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THE UNIVERSITY 
OF ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


From the Library 


of the 
Diocese of Springfield 
Protestant Episcopal 
Church 
Presented 1917 











(|b Glearrelaelores. 





THE 


WORKS 


OF 


THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


IN THREE. VOLUMES. 


VOL. I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
CAREY AND HART. 
1844, 


T. K. & P. G. COLLINS, Printers, 
No. 1 LopcrE ALLEY. 








PREFACH. 


Wuen first I went into the Church, I had a curacy in the 
middle of Salisbury Plain. The Squire of the parish took a 
fancy to me, and requested me to go with his son to reside at 
the University of Weimar; before we could get there, Ger- 
many became the seat of war, and in stress of politics we put 
into Edinburgh, where I remained five years. ‘The principles 
of the French Revolution were then fully afloat, and it is im- 
possible to conceive a more violent and agitated state of society. 
Among the first persons with whom I became acquainted were, 
Lord Jeffrey, Lord Murray (late Lord Advocate for Scotland), 
and Lord Brougham; all of them maintaining opinions upon 
political subjects a little too liberal for the dynasty of Dundas, 
then exercising supreme power over the northern division of 
the island. 

One day we happened to meet in the eighth or ninth story 
or flat in Buccleugh-place, the elevated residence of the then 
Mr. Jeffrey. I proposed that we should set up a Review; 
this was acceded to with acclamation. I was appointed 
Editor, and remained long enough in Edinburgh to edit the 
first number of the Edinburgh Review. The motto I proposed 
for the Review was, 


“ Tenut musam meditamur avena.” 
“ We cultivate literature upon a little oatmeal.” 


But this was too near the truth to be admitted, and so we 
took our present grave motto from Publius Syrus, of whom 
none of us had, I am sure, ever read a single line; and so 
began what has since turned out to be a very important and 
able journal. When I left Edinburgh, it fell into the stronger 
hands of Lord Jeffrey and Lord Brougham, and reached the 
highest point of popularity and success. I contributed from 


4 PREFACE. 


England many articles, which I have been foolish enough to 
collect and publish with some other tracts written by me. 

To appreciate the value of the Edinburgh Review, the state 
of England at the period when that journal began should be 
had in remembrance. The Catholics were not emancipated 
—the Corporation and Test Acts were unrepealed—the Game 
Laws were horribly oppressive—Steel Traps and Spring Guns 
were set all over the country—Prisoners tried for their Lives 
could have no Counsel—Lord Eldon and the Court of Chan- 
cery pressed heavily upon mankind—Libel was punished by 
the most cruel and vindictive imprisonments—the principles 
of Political Economy were little understood—the Law of Debt 
and of Conspiracy were upon the worst possible footing——the 
enormous wickedness of the Slave Trade was tolerated—a 
thousand evils were in existence, which the talents of good and 
able men have since lessened or removed; and these effects 
have been not a little assisted by the honest boldness of the 
Edinburgh Review. 

I see very little in my Reviews to alter or repent of: I 
always endeavoured to fight against evil; and what I thought 
evil then, I think evil now. I am heartily glad that all our 
disqualifying laws for religious opinions are abolished, and I 
see nothing in such measures but unmixed good and real in- 
crease of strength to our Establishment. 

The idea of danger from the extension of the Catholic reli- 
gion in England I utterly deride. ‘The Catholic faith is a 
misfortune to the world, but those whose faith it conscien- 
tiously is, are quite right in professing it boldly, and in pro- 
moting it by all means which the law allows. A physician 
does not say ‘* You will be well as soon as the bile is got rid 
of ;” but he says, “ You will not be well until after the bile 
is got rid of.’’ He knows after the cause of the malady is 
removed, that morbid habits are to be changed, weakness to 
be supported, organs to be called back to their proper exercise, 
subordinate maladies to be watched, secondary and vicarious 
symptoms to be studied. The physician is a wise man—but 
the anserous politican insists, after 200 years of persecution, 
and ten of emancipation, that Catholic Ireland should be as 
quiet as Edmonton, or Tooting. 

Not only are just laws wanted for Catholic Ireland, but the 
just administration of just laws; such as they have in general 
experienced under the Whig government; and this system 


PREFACE. 5 


steadily persevered in will, after a lapse of time and O’Con- 
nell, quiet, conciliate, and civilize that long injured and irrita- 
ble people. 

I have printed in this Collection the Letters of Peter Plym- 
ley. The Government of that day took great pains to find 
out the author; all that they could find was, that they were 
brought to Mr. Budd, the publisher, by the Earl of Lauder- 
dale. Somehow or another, it came to be conjectured that I 
was that author: I have always denied it; but finding that I 
deny it in vain, I have thought it might be as well to include 
the Letters in this Collection; they had an immense circula- 
tion at the time, and I think above 20,000 copies were sold. 

From the beginning of the century (about which time the 
Review began) to the death of Lord Liverpool, was an awful 
period for those who had the misfortune to entertain liberal 
opinions, and who were too honest to sell them for the ermine 
of the judge, or the lawn of the prelate:—a long and hopeless 
career in your profession, the chuckling grin of noodles, the 
sarcastic leer of the genuine political roeue—prebendaries, 
deans, and bishops made over your head—reverend renegadoes 
advanced to the highest dignities of the Church, for helping 
to rivet the fetters of Catholic and Protestant Dissenters, and 
no more chance of a Whig administration than of a thaw in 
Zembla—these were the penalties exacted for liberality of 
Opinion at that period; and not only was there no pay, but 
there were many stripes. It is always considered as a piece 
of impertinence in England, if a man of less than two or three 
thousand a year has any opinions at all upon important sub- 
jects; and in addition he was sure at that time to be assailed 
with all the Billingsgate of the French Revolution—Jacobin, 
Leveller, Atheist, Deist, Socinian, Incendiary, Regicide, were 
the gentlest appellations used ; and the man who breathed a syl- 
lable against the senseless bigotry of the two Georges, or hinted 
at the abominable tyranny and persecution exercised upon 
Catholic Ireland, was shunned as unfit for the relations of 
social life. Nota murmur against any abuse was permitted ; 
to say a word against the suitorcide delays of the Court of 
Chancery, or the cruel punishments of the Game Laws, or 
against any abuse which a rich man inflicted, or a poor man 
suffered, was treason against the Plousiocracy, and was bit- 
terly and steadily resented. Lord Grey had not then taken 


6 PREFACE. 


off the bearing-rein from the English people, as Sir Francis 
Head has now done from horses. 

To set on foot such a Journal in such times, to contribute 
towards it for many years, to bear patiently the reproach and 
poverty which it caused, and to look back and see that I have 
nothing to retract, and no intemperance and violence to re- 
proach myself with, is a career of life which I must think to 
be extremely fortunate. Strange and ludicrous are the changes 
in human affairs. ‘The Tories are now on the treadmill, and 
the well-paid Whigs are riding in chariots: with many faces, 
however, looking out of the windows, (including that of our 
Prime Minister,) which I never remember to have seen in the 
days of the poverty and depression of Whiggism. Liberality 
is now a lucrative business. Whoever has any institution to 
destroy, may consider himself as a commissioner, and his for- 
tune as made; and to my utter and never ending astonishment, 
I, an old Edinburgh Reviewer, find myself fighting, in the 
year 1839, against the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
Bishop of London, for the existence of the National Church. 


SYDNEY SMITH. 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE FIRST VOLUME. 


ARTICLES ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE “EDINBURGH REVIEW.” 


Page 
Dr. Parr poek oe - - - = - 9 
Dr. Rennel - - = “ * ws ~ 17 
John Bowles - - » - - ° 25° 
Dr. Langford - - - - - - 30 
Archdeacon Nares_~ - - - - - - 31 
Matthew Lewis > » - - - - 34 
Australia - - - - - - - 38 
Fievée’s Letters on England - - - - 52 
Edgeworth on Bulls’ - - - - . - 57 
Trimmer and Lancaster - ° - - . 62 
Parnell and Ireland - - - - - - 71 
Methodism - - - - - - - 79 
Indian Missions - - - - - - 103 
Catholics - - . - - - » 135 
Methodism - - - ° - - - 142 
Hannah More . - - - - - - 155 
Professional Education - - - . - 162 
Female Education - \ - - . - - 176 
Public Schools - - - - - . 195 
Toleration ” - - - - . . 205 
Charles Fox - - - - “ ne - 216 


Mad Quakers - - ~ - - . 236 


America - 
Game Laws - 
Botany Bay - 
Chimney Sweepers 
America - 
Treland - 
Spring Guns - 
Prisons - 
Prisons tye 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
246 


265 
281 
303 
315 
327 
347 
360 
378 


WORKS 


OF THE 


REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


DR. PARR.* (Epinsunen Review, 1802.) 


Spiéal Sermon, preached at Christ Church upon Easter-Tuesday, 
April 15,1800. To whichare added, Notes by Samuel Parr, LL. D. 
Printed for J. Mawman in the Poultry. 1801. 


WuoeEver has had the good fortune to see Dr. Parr’s wig, 
must have observed, that while it trespasses a little on the or- 
thodox magnitude of perukes in the anterior parts, it scorns 
even Episcopal limits behind, and swells out into boundless 
convexity of frizz, the weya Sovuo of barbers, and the terror of 
the literary world. After the manner of his wig, the Doctor 
has constructed his sermon, giving us a discourse of no com- 
mon length, and subjoining an immeasurable mass of notes, 
which appear to concern every learned thing, every learned 
man, and almost every unlearned man since the beginning of 
the world. 

For his text, Dr. Parr has chosen Gal. vi. 10. As we have 
therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially 
to those who are of the household of faith. After a short 


*A creat scholar, as rude and violent as most Greek scholars are, 
unless they happen to be Bishops. He has left nothing behind him 
worth leaving: he was rather fitted for the law than the church, and 
would have been a more considerable man, if he had been more 
knocked aboutamong his equals. He lived with country gentlemen 
and clergymen, who flattered and feared him. 

VOL. 1.—-2 


10 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


preliminary comparison between the dangers of the selfish sys- 
tem, and the modern one of universal benevolence, he divides 
his sermon into two parts: in the first, examining how far, by 
the constitution of human nature, and the circumstances of hu- 
man life, the principles of particular and universal benevolence 
are compatible: in the last, commenting on the nature of the 
charitable institution for which he is preaching. 

The former part is levelled against the doctrines of Mr. God- 
win; and, here, Dr. Parr exposes, very strongly and happily, 
the folly of making universal benevolence the immediate mo- 
tive of our actions. As we consider this, though of no very 
difficult execution, to be by far the best part of the sermon, we 
shall very willingly make some extracts from it. 


‘To me it appears, that the modern advocates for universal philan- 
thropy have fallen into the error charged upon those who are fasci- 
nated by aviolent and extraordinary fondness for what a celebrated 
author calis “some moral species.’ Some men, it has been remarked, 
are hurriedinto romantic adventures, by their excessive admiration 
of fortitude. Others are actuated bya headstrong zeal for dissemi- 
nating the true religion. Hence, while the only properties, for which 
fortitude or zeal can be esteemed, are scarcely discernible, from the 
enormous bulkiness to which they are swollen, the ends to which 
alone they can be directed usefully, are overlooked or defeated; the 
public good is impaired, rather than increased; and the claims that 
other virtues equally obligatory have to our notice, are totally disre- 
garded. Thus, too, when any dazzling phantoms of universal philan- 
thropy have seized our attention, the objects that formerly engaged it 
shrink and fade. All considerations of kindred, friends, and country- 
men drop from the mind, during the struggles it makes to grasp the 
collective interests of the species; and when the association that at- 
tached us to them has been dissolved, the notions we have formed of 
their comparative insignificance will prevent them from recovering, 
I do not say any hold whatsoever, but that strong and lasting hold they 
once had upon our conviction and our feelings. Universal benevo- 
Jence, should it, from any strange combination of circumstances, ever 
become passionate, will, like every other passion, justify itself: and 
the importunity of its demands to obtain a hearing will be proportion- 
ate to the weakness of its cause. But what are the consequences? 
A perpetual wrestling for victory between the refinements of sophis- 
try, and the remonstrances of indignant nature—the agitations of 
secret distrust in opinions which gain few or no proselytes, and feel- 
ings which excite little or no sympathy—the neglect of all the usual 
duties, by which social life is preserved or adorned; and in the pur- 
suit of other duties which are unusual, and indeed imaginary, a suc- 
cession of airy projects, eager hopes, tumultuous efforts, and galling 
disappointments, such, in truth, as every wise man foresaw, and a 
good man would rarely commiserate.’ 


DR. PARR. ll 


In a subsequent part of his sermon, Dr. Parr handles the 
same topic with equal success. 

‘The stoics, it has been said, were more successful in weakening 
the tender affections, than in animating men to the stronger virtues of 
fortitude and self-command; and possible it is, that the influence of 
our modern reformers may be greater, in furnishing their disciples 
with pleas for the neglect of their ordinary duties, than in stimulating 
their endeavours for the performance of those which are extraordinary, 
and perhapsideal. If, indeed, the representations we have lately heard 
of universal philanthropy served only to amuse the fancy of those 
who approve of them, and to communicate that pleasure which arises 
from contemplating the magnitude and grandeur of a favourite sub- 
ject, we might be tempted to smile at them as groundless and harmless. 
But they tend to debase the dignity, and to weaken the efficacy of those 
particular affections, for which we have daily and hourly occasion in 
the events of real life. They tempt us to substitute the ease of specu- 
lation, and the pride of dogmatism, for the toil of practice. Toa class 
of artifical and ostentatious sentiments, they give the most dangerous 
triumph over the genuine and salutary dictates of nature. They de- 
lude and inflame our minds with pharisaical notions of superior wis- 
dom and superior virtue; and, what is the worst of all, they may be 
used as “a cloke to us” for insensibility, where other men feel; and 
for negligence, where other men act with visible and useful, though 
limited, effect.’ 

In attempting to show the connection between particular and 
universal benevolence, Dr. Parr does not appear to us to have 
taken a clear and satisfactory view of the subject. Nature 
impels us both to good and bad actions; and, even in the 
former, gives us no measure by which we may prevent them 
from degenerating into excess. Rapine and revenge are not 
less natural than parental and filial affection ; which latter class 
of feelings may themselves bea source of crimes, if they over- 
power (as they frequently do) the sense of justice. It is not, 
therefore,-a sufficient justification of our actions, that they are 
natural. We mustseek, from our reason, some principle which 
will enable us to determine what impulses of nature we are to 
obey, and what we are to resist: such is that of general utility, 
or, what is the same thing, of universal good; a principle which 
sanctifies and limits the more particular affections. The duty 
of ason to a parent, ora parent to a son, is not an ultimate 
principle of morals, but depends on the principle of universal 
good, and is only praiseworthy because it is found to promote 
it. At the same time, our spheres of action and intelligence 
are so confined, that it is better, ina great majority of instances, 
to suffer our conduct to be guided by those affections which 


12 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


have been long sanctioned by the approbation of mankind, than 
to enter into a process of reasoning, and investigate the relation 
which every trifling event might bear to the general interests of 
the world. In his principle of universal benevolence, Mr. 
Godwin is unquestionably right. That it is the grand prin- 
eiple on which all morals rest—that it is the corrective for the 
excess of all particular affections, we believe to be undeniable: 
and he is only erroneous in excluding the particular affections, 
because, in so doing, he deprives us of our most powerful 
means of promoting his own principle of universal good; for 
it isas much as to say, that all the crew ought to have the gene- 
ral welfare of the ship so much at heart, that no sailor should 
ever pull any particular rope, or hand any individual sail. 
By universal benevolence, we mean, and understand Dr. Parr 
to mean, not a barren affection for the species, but a desire to 
promote their real happiness; and of this principle, he thus 
speaks: 

‘T admit, and I approve of it, as an emotion of which general hap- 
piness is the cause, but not as a passion, of which, according to the 
usual order of human affairs, it could often be the object. I approve 
of it as a disposition to wish, and, as opportunity may occur, to desire 


and do good, rather than harm, to those with whom we are quite un- 
connected.’ 


It would appear, from this kind of language, that a desire of 
promoting the universal good were a pardonable weakness, 
rather than a fundamental principle of ethics ; that the particu- 
lar affections were incapable of excess; and that they never 
wanted the corrective of a more generous and exalted feeling. 
In a subsequent part of his sermon, Dr. Parr atones a little 
for this over-zealous depreciation of the principle of universal 
benevolence ; but he nowhere states the particular affections 
to derive their value and their limits from their subservience 
to a more extensive philanthropy. He does not show us that 
they exist only as virtues, from their instrumentality In pro- 
moting the general good; and that, to preserve their true cha- 
racter, they “should be frequently referred to that principle as 
their proper criterion. 

In the latter part of his sermon, Dr. Parr combats the gene- 
ral objections of Mr. ‘Turgot to all charitable institutions, with 
considerable vigour and success. ‘To say that an institution is 
necessarily bad, because it will not always be administered 
with the same zeal, proves a little too much; for it is an ob- 


DR. PARR. 13 


jection to political and religious, as well as to charitable insti- 
tutions; and, from alively apprehension of the fluctuating cha- 
racters of those who govern, would leave the world without 
any government at all. It is better there should be an asylum 
for the mad, and a hospital for the wounded, if they were to 
squander away 50 per cent. of their income, than that we should 
be disgusted with sore limbs, and shocked by straw-crowned 
monarchs in the streets. All institutions of this kind must 
suffer the risk of being governed by more or less of probity 
and talents. ‘The good which one active character effects, and 
the wise order which he establishes, may outlive him for a 
long period; and we all hate each other’s crimes, by which | 
we gain nothing, so much, that in proportiom as public opinion 
acquires ascendency in any particular country, every public 
institution becomes more and more guaranteed from abuse. 

Upon the whole, this sermon is rather the production of 
what is called a sensible, than of a very acute man; of a man 
certainly more remarkable for his learning than his originality. 
It refutes the very refutable positions of Mr. Godwin, with- 
out placing the doctrine of benevolence in a clear light; and it 
almost leaves us to suppose, that the particular affections are 
themselves ultimate principles of action, instead of convenient 
instruments of a more general principle. 

The style is such, as to give a general impression of heavi- 
ness to the whole sermon. ‘The Doctor. is never simple and 
natural fora single instant. Every thing smells of the rheto- 
rician. He never appears to forget himself, or to be hurried 
by his subject into obvious language. Every expression seems 
to be the result of artifice and intention ; and as to the worthy 
dedicatees, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, unless the sermon 
be done into English by a person of honour, they may per- 
haps be flattered by the Doctor’s politeness, but they can never” 
be much edified by his meaning. Dr. Parr seems to think, 
that eloquence consists not in exuberance of beautiful images— 
not in simple and sublime conceptions—not in the feelings of 
the passions; but in a studious arrangement of sonorous, exo- 
tic, and sesquipedal words: a very ancient error, which cor- 
rupts the style of young, and wearies the patience of sensible 
men. In some of his combinations of words the Doctor is 
singularly unhappy. We have the din of superficial cavil- 
lers, the prancings of giddy ostentation, fluttering vanity, 


14 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


hissing scorn, dank clod, &c. &c. &c. The following in- 
trusion of a technical word into a pathetic description renders 
the whole passage almost ludicrous. | 

‘Within a few days, mute was the tongue that uttered these celes- 


tial sounds, and the hand which signed your indenture lay cold and 
motionless in the dark and dreary chambers of death.’ 


In page 16, Dr. Parr, in speaking of the indentures of the 
hospital, a subject (as we should have thought) little calcu- 
lated for rhetorical panegyric, says of them— 

‘If the writer of whom I am speaking had perused, as I have, your 
indentures, and your rules, he would have found in them seriousness 
without austerity, earnestness without extravagance, good sense with- 
out the trickeries of art, good language without the trappings of rhe- 
toric, and the firmness of conscious worth, rather than the prancings 
of giddy ostentation,’ 

The latter member of this eloge would not be wholly unin- 
telligible, if applied to a spirited coach horse; but we have 
never yet witnessed the phenomenon of a prancing indenture. 

It is not our intention to follow Dr. Parr through the co- 
pious and varied learning of his notes ; in the perusal of which 
we have been as much delighted with the richness of his aequi- 
sitions, the vigour of his understanding, and the genuine good- 
ness of his heart, as we have been amused with his ludicrous 
self-importance, and the miraculous simplicity of his character. 
We would rather recommend it to the Doctor to publish an 
annual list of worthies, as a kind of stimulus to literary men; 
to be included in which, will unquestionably be considered as 
great an honour, as for a commoner to be elevated to the peer- 
age. A line of Greek, a line of Latin, or no line at all, sub- 
sequent to each name, will distinguish, with sufficient accuracy, 
the shades of merit, and the degree of immortality conferred. 

Why should Dr. Parr confine this ewlogomania to the lite- 
rary characters of this island alone? In the university of Be- 
nares, in the lettered kingdom of Ava, among the Mandarins 
at Pekin, there must, doubtless, be many men who have the 
eloquence of * Bappovos, the feeling of Tacawpos, and the judg- 
ment of Qxzpos, of whom Dr. Parr might be happy to say, that 


* Tlayres ztv copot. EAM Se" Qunpov dv céCw, Savudla SE Baspovov, wal dsrAw 
Taidwpw. See Lucian in Vita Demonact. vol. i. p. 394.—(Dr. Parr’s 
note.) 


DR. PARR. 15 


they have profundity without obscurity—perspicuity without 
prolixity—ornament without glare—terseness without barren- 
ness—penetration without subtlety—comprehensiveness with- 
out digression—and a great number of other things without a 
great number of other things, 

In spite of 32 pages of very close printing, in defence of 
the University of Oxford, is it, or is it not true, that very many 
of its Professors enjoy ample salaries, without reading any 
lectures at all? ‘he character of particular colleges will cer- 
tainly vary with the character of their governors; but the 
University of Oxford so far differs from Dr. Parr in the com- 
mendation he has bestowed upon its state of public education, 
that they have, since the publication of his book, we believe, 
and forty years after Mr. Gibbon’s residence, completely abo- 
lished their very ludicrous and disgraceful exercises for degrees, 
and have substituted in their place a system of exertion, and 
a scale of academical honours, calculated (we are willing to 
hope) to produce the happiest effects. 

We were very sorry, in reading Dr. Parr’s note on the 
Universities, to meet with the following passage :— 


‘Ill would it become me tamely and silently to acquiesce in the 
strictures of this formidable accuser upona seminary to which I owe 
many obligations, though I left it, as must not be dissembled, before 
the usual time, and, in truth, had been almost compelled to leave it, 
not by the want of proper education, for I had arrived at the first place 
in the first form of Harrow School, when I was not quite fourteen— 
not by the want of useful tutors, for mine were eminently able, and to 
me had been uniformly kind—not by the want of ambition, for I had 
begun to look up ardently and anxiously to academical distinctions-— 
‘not by the want of attachment to the place, for I regarded it then, as 
I continue to regard it now, with the fondest and most unfeigned af- 
fection—but by another want, which it were unnecessary to name, 
and for the supply of which, after some hesitation, I determined to pro- 
vide by patient toil and resolute self-denial, when I had not com- 
pleted my twentieth year. Iceased, therefore, to reside, with an aching 
heart: I looked back with mingled feelings of regret and humiliation 
to advantages of which I could no longer partake, and honours to 
which I could no longer aspire.’ 


To those who know the truly honourable and respectable 
character of Dr. Parr, the vast extent of his learning, and the 
unadulterated benevolence of his nature, such an account can- 
not but be very affecting, in spite of the bad taste in which it 
is communicated. How painful to reflect, that a truly devout 


16 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


and attentive minister, a strenuous defender of the church 
establishment, and by far the most learned man of his day, 
should be permitted to languish on a little paltry curacy in 
Warwickshire! 


* The courtly phrase was, that Dr. Parr was not a producible man. 
The same phrase was used for the neglect of Paley. 


DR. RENNEL. 17 


DR. RENNEL. (Eninsurcna Review, 1802.) 


Discourses on Various Subjects. By Thomas Rennel, D.D. Master of 
the Temple. Rivington, London. 


We have no modern sermons in the English language that 
can be considered as very eloquent. The merits of Blair (by 
far the most popular writer of sermons within the last century ) 
are plain good sense, a happy application of scriptural quota- 
tion, and aclear harmonious style, richly tinged with scrip- 
tural language. He generally leaves his readers pleased with 
his judgment, and his just observations on human conduct, 
without ever rising so high as to touch the great passions, or 
kindle any enthusiasm in favour of virtue. For eloquence, 
we must ascend as high as the days of Barrow and Jeremy 
Taylor: and even there, while we are delighted with their 
energy, their copiousness, and their fancy, we are in danger of 
being suffocated by a redundance which abhors all discrimina- 
tion; which compares till it perplexes, and illustrates till it 
confounds. 

To the Oases of Tillotson, Sherlock, and Atterbury, we 
must wade through many a barren page, in which the weary 
Christian can descry nothing all around him but a dreary ex- 
panse of trite sentiments and languid words. 

The great object of modern sermons is to hazard nothing: 
their characteristic is, decent debility ; which alike guards their 
authors from ludicrous errors, and precludes them from strik- 
ing beauties. Every man of sense, in taking up an English 
sermon, expects to find it a tedious essay, full of common- 
place morality; and if the fulfilment of such expectations be 
meritorious, the clergy have certainly the merit of not disap- 
pointing their readers. Yet it is curious to consider, how a 
body of men so well educated, and so magnificently endowed 
as the English clergy, should distinguish themselves so little 
in a species of composition to which it is their peculiar duty, 
as well as their ordinary habit, to attend. To solve this diffi- 
culty, it should be remembered, that the eloquence of the Bar 
and of the Senate force themselves into notice, power, and 


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Ay f 
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18 WORKS OF .THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


wealth—that the penalty which an individual client pays for 
choosing a bad advocate, is the loss of his cause—that a prime 
minister must infallibly suffer in the estimation of the public, 
who neglects to conciliate the eloquent men, and trusts the de- 
fence of his measures to those who have not adequate talents 
for that purpose: whereas, the only evil which accrues from 
the promotion of a clergyman to the pulpit, which he has no 
ability to fill as he ought, is the fatigue of the audience, and 
the discredit of that species of public instruction; an evil so 
general, that no individual patron would dream of sacrificing to 
it his particular interest. ‘The clergy are generally appointed 
to their situations by those who have no interest that they 
should please the audience before whom they speak; while 
the very reverse is the case in the eloquence of the Bar, and of 
Parliament. We by no means would be understood to say, that 
the clergy should owe their promotion principally to their elo- 
quence, or that eloquence ever could, consistently with the 
constitution of the English Church, be made out a common 
cause of preferment. In pointing out the total want of con- 
nection between the privilege of preaching, and the power of 
preaching well, we are giving no opinion as to whether it 
might, or might not, be remedied; but merely stating a fact. 
Pulpit discourses have insensibly dwindled from speaking to 
reading ; a practice, of itself, sufficient to stifle every germ of 
eloquence. It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart, that 
mankind can be very powerfully affected. What can be more 
ludicrous, than an orator delivering stale indignation, and fer- 
vour of a week old; turning over whole pages of violent 
passions, written out in German text; reading the tropes and 
apostrophes into which he is hurried by the ardour of his 
mind; and so affected at a preconcerted line, and page, that 
he is unable to proceed any farther ! 

The prejudices of the English nation have proceeded a good 
deal from their hatred to the French; and, because that coun- 
try is the native soil of elegance, animation, and grace, a cer- 
tain patriotic solidity, and loyal awkwardness, have become 
the characteristics of this; so that an adventurous preacher is 
afraid of violating the ancient tranquillity of the pulpit ; and the 
audience are commonly apt to consider the man who tires 
them less than usual, as a trifler, ora charlatan. 

Of British education, the study of eloquence makes little or 
no part. ‘The exterior graces of a speaker are despised; and 


DR. RENNEL. 19 


debating societies (admirable institutions, under proper regu- 
lations) would hardly be tolerated either at Oxford or Cam- 
bridge. Itis commonly answered to any animadversions upon 
the eloquence of the English pulpit, that a clergyman is to 
recommend himself, not by his eloquence, but by the purity 
of his life, and the soundness of his doctrine; an objection 
good enough, if any connection could be pointed out between 
eloquence, heresy, and dissipation: but, if it is possible for a 
man to live well, preach well, and teach well, at the same 
time, such objections, resting only upon asupposed incompati- 
bility of these good qualities, are duller than the dulness they 
defend. 

The clergy are apt to shelter themselves under the plea, 
that subjects so exhausted are utterly incapable of novelty ; and, 
in the very strictest sense of the word novelty, meaning that 
which was never said before, at any time, or in any place, this 
may be true enough, of the first principles of morals; but the 
modes of expanding, illustrating, and enforcing a particular 
theme are capable of infinite variety; and, if they were not, 
this might be a very good reason for preaching commonplace 
sermons, but is a very bad one for publishing them. 

We had great hopes, that Dr. Rennel’s Sermons would 
have proved an exception to the character we have given of 
sermons in general; and we have read through his present 
volume with a conviction rather that he has misapplied, than 
that he wants, talents for pulpit eloquence. The subjects of 
his sermons, fourteen in number, are, 1. ‘The consequences of 
the vice of gaming: 2. On old age: 3. Benevolence exclusive- 
ly an evangelical virtue: 4. The services rendered to the Eng- 
lish nation by the Church of England, a motive for liberality 
to the orphan children of indigent ministers: 5. On the grounds 
and regulation of national joy: 6. On the connection of the du- 
ties of loving the brotherhood, fearing God, and honouring the 
King: 7. On the guilt of blood-thirstiness: 8. On atonement: 
9. A visitation sermon: 10. Great Britain’s naval strength, and 
insular situation, a cause of gratitude to Almighty God: 11. 
Ignorance productive of atheism, anarchy, and superstition: 
12, 18, 14. On the sting of death, the strength of sin, and the 
victory over them both by Jesus Christ. 

Dr. Rennel’s first sermon, upon the consequences of gam- 
ing, is admirable for its strength of language, its sound good 
sense, and the vigour with which it combats that detestable 


20 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


vice. From this sermon, we shall, with great pleasure, make 
an extract of some length. 


‘Farther to this sordid habit the gamester joins a disposition to Fraup, 
and that of the meanest cast. To those who soberly and fairly appre- 
ciate the real nature of human actions, nothing appears more incon- 
sistent than that societies of men, who have incorporated themselves 
for the express purpose of gaming should disclaim fraud or indirection, 
or affect to drive from their assemblies those among their associates 
whose crimes would reflect disgrace on them. Surely this, to a con- 
siderate mind,is assolemn and refined a banter as can well be exhi- 
bited: for when we take into view the vast latitude allowed by the 
most upright gamesters, when we reflect that, according to their pre- 
cious casuistry every advantage may be legitimately taken of the young, 
the unwary, and the inebriated, which superior coolness, skill, address, 
and activity can supply, we must look upon pretences to honesty as 
a most shameless aggravation of their crimes. Even if it were pos- 
sible that, in his own practices, a man might be aFarr GAMESTER, yet, 
for the result of the extended frauds committed by his fellows, he stands 
deeply accountable to God, his country, and his conscience. To a 
system necessarily implicated with fraud; to associations of men, a 
Jarge majority of whom subsist by fraud; to habits calculated to poi- 
son the source and principle of all integrity, he gives efficacy, counte- 
nance, and concurrence. Even his virtues he suffers to be subsidiary 
to the cause of vice. He sees with calmness, depredation committed 
daily and hourly in his company, perhaps under his very roof. Yet 
men of this description declaim (so desperately deceitful is the heart 
of man) against the very knaves they cherish and protect, and whom, 
perhaps, with some poor sophistical refuge for a worn-out conscience, 
they even imitate. ‘Io such, let the Scripture speak with emphatical 
decision— When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him. 


The reader will easily observe, in this quotation, a com- 
mand of language, and a power of style, very superior to what 
is met with in the great mass of sermons. We shall make 
one more extract. 


‘But in addition to fraud, and all its train of crimes, propensities 
and habits of a very different complexion enter into the composition 
of a gamester: a most ungovernable FERociTy or DIsposrrioNn, how- 
ever for atime disguised and latent, is invariably the result of his 
system of conduct. Jealousy, rage, and revenge, exist among game- 
sters in their worst and most frantic excesses, and end frequently in 
consequences of the most atrocious violence and outrage. By per- 
petual agitation the malignant passions spurn and overwhelm every 
boundary which discretion and conscience can oppose. From what 
source are we to trace a very large number of those murders, sanc- 
tioned or palliated indeed by custom, but which stand at the tribunal 
of God precisely upon the same grounds with every other species of 
murder?—From the gaming-table, from the nocturnal receptacles of 
distraction and frenzy, the duellist rushes with his hand lifted up 


DR. RENNEL. 21 


against his brother’s life!--Those who are as yet on the threshold of 
these habits should be warned, that however calm their natural tem- 
perament, however meek and placable their disposition, yet that, by 
the events which every moment arise, they stand exposed to the un- 
governable fury of themselves and others. In the midst of fraud, 
protected by menace on the one hand, and on the other, of despair; 
irritated by a recollection of the meanness of the artifices and the 
baseness of the hands by which utter and remediless ruin has been 


- inflicted; in the midst of these feelings of horror and distraction it is, 


that the voice of brethren’s blood “crieth unto God from the ground” 
—“and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth 
to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.” Not only THOU who 
actually sheddest that blood, but raov who art the artificer of death 
—-thou who administerest incentives to these habits—-who dissemi- 
natest the practice of them—-improvest the skill in them--sharpenest the 
propensity to them—at ray hands will it be required, surely, at the 
tribunal of God in the next world, and perhaps, in most instances, in 
his distributive and awful dispensations towards thee and thine here 
on earth.’ 


Having paid this tribute of praise to Dr. Rennel’s first ser- 
mon, We are sorry so soon to change our eulogium into censure, 
and to blame him for having selected for publication so many 
sermons touching directly and indirectly upon the French 
Revolution. We confess ourselves long since wearied with 
this kind of discourses, bespattered with blood and brains, and 
ringing eternal changes upon atheism, cannibalism, and apos- 
tasy. Upon the enormities of the French Revolution there can 
be but one opinion; but the subject is not fit for the pulpit. 
The public are disgusted with it to satiety; and we can never 
help remembering, that this politico-orthodox rage in the mouth 
of a preacher may be profitable as well as sincere. Uponsuch 
subjects-as the murder of the Queen of France, and the great 
events of these days, it is not possible to endure the draggling 
and the daubing of such a ponderous limner as Dr. Rennel, 
after the ethereal touches of Mr. Burke. In events so truly 


horrid in themseives, the field is so easy for a declaimer, that 


we set litile value upon the declamation; and the mind, on 
such occasions, so easily outruns ordinary description, that - 
we are apt to feel more, before a mediocre oration begins, than 
it even aims at inspiring. 

We are surprised that Dr. Rennel, from among the great 
number of subjects which he must have discussed in the pul- 
pit (the interest in which must be permanent and universal) 
should have published such an empty and frivolous sermon as 


22 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


that upon the victory of Lord Nelson; a sermon good enough 
for the garrulity of joy, when the phrases, and the exultation 
of the Porcupine, or the True Briton, may pass for eloquence 
or sense; but utterly unworthy of the works of a man who 
aims at a place among the great teachers of morality and re- 
ligion. 

Dr. Rennel is apt to put on the appearance of a holy bully, 
an evangelical swaggerer, as if he could carry his point against 
infidelity by big words and strong abuse, and kick and cuff 
men into Christians. It is avery easy thing to talk about 
the shallow impostures, and the silly ignorant sophisms of Vol- 
taire, Rousseau, Condorcet, D’Alembert, and Volney, and to 
say that Hume is not worth answering. ‘This affectation of 
contempt will not do. While these pernicious writers have 
power to allure from the Church great numbers of proselytes, 
it is better to study them diligently, and to reply to them satis- 
factorily, than to veil insolence, want of power, or want of 
industry, by a pretended contempt; which may leave infidels 
and wavering Christians to suppose that such writers are 
abused, because they are feared; and not answered, because 
they are unanswerable. While every body was abusing and 
despising Mr. Godwin, and while Mr. Godwin was, among 
a certain description of understandings, increasing every day 
in popularity, Mr. Malthus* took the trouble of refuting him ; 
and we hear no more of Mr. Godwin. We recommend this 
example to the consideration of Dr. Rennel, who seems to 
think it more useful, and more pleasant, to rail than to fight. 

After the world has returned to its sober senses upon the 
merits of the ancient philosophy, it is amusing enough to 
see a few bad heads bawling for the restoration of exploded 
errors and past infatuation. Wehave some dozen of plethoric 
phrases about Aristotle, who is, in the estimation of the Doctor, 
et rex et sutor bonus, and every thing else; and to the neglect 
of whose works he seems to attribute every moral and physi- 
eal evi! under which the world has groaned for the last cen- 
tury. Dr. Rennel’s admiration of the ancients is so great, 
that he considers the works of Homer to be the region and de- 


* IT cannot read the name of Malthus without adding my tribute of 
affection for the memory of one of the best men that ever lived. 
He loved philosophical truth more than any man I ever knew,—-was 
full of practical wisdom,—and never indulged in contemptuous feel- 
ings against his inferiors in understanding. 


DR. RENNEL. 23 


pository of natural law, and natural religion.* Now, if, by 
natural religion, is meant the will of God collected from his 
works, and the necessity man is under of obeying it; it is 
rather extraordinary that Homer should be so good a natural 
theologian, when the divinities he has painted are certainly a 
more drunken, quarrelsome, adulterous, intriguing, lascivious 
set of beings, than are to be met with in the most profligate 
court in Europe. ‘There is, every now and then, some plain 
coarse morality in Homer; but the most bloody revenge, and 
the most savage cruelty in warfare, the ravishing of women, 
and the sale of men, &c. &c. &c. are circumstances which the 
old bard seems to relate as the ordinary events of his times, 
without ever dreaming that there could be much harm in them ; 
and if itbe urged that Homer took his ideas of right and wrong 
from a barbarous age, that is just saying, in other words, that 
Homer had very imperfect ideas of natural law. 

Having exhausted all his powers of eulogium upon the 
times thatare gone, Dr. Rennel indemnifies himself by the very 
novel practice of declaiming against the present age. It is an 
evil age—an adulterous age—an ignorant age—an apostate 
age—and a foppish age. Of the propriety of the last epithet, 
our readers may perhaps be more convinced, by calling to 
mind a class of fops not usually designated by that epithet 
—men clothed in profound black, with large canes, and strange 
amorphous hats—of big speech, and imperative presence—talk- 
ers about Plato—great affecters of senility—despisers of wo- 
men, and all the graces of life—fierce foes to common sense 
—abusive of the living, and approving no one who has not 
been dead for at least a century. Such fops, as vain, and as 
shallow as their fraternity in Bond Street, differ from these 
only as Gorgonius differed from Rufillus. 

In the ninth Discourse {p. 226,) we read of St. Paul, that 
he had ‘an heroic zeal, directed, rather than bounded, by the 
nicest discretion—a_ conscious and commanding dignity, soft- 
ened by the meekest and most profound humility.’ ‘This is 
intended for a fine piece of writing; butit is without meaning: 
for, if words have any limits, it is a contradiction in terms to 
say of the same person, at the same time, that he is nicely 
discreet, and heroically zealous; or that he is profoundly hum- 
ble, and imperatively dignified: and if Dr. Rennel means, that 


* Page 318. 


24 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


St. Paul displayed these qualities at different times, then could 
not any one of them direct or soften the other. 

Sermons are so seldom examined with any considerable de- 
gree of critical vigilance, that we are apt to discover in them 
sometumes a great laxity of assertion: such as the following :— 


‘Labour to be undergone, afflictions to be borne, contradictions to 
be endured, danger to be braved, interest to be despised in the best 
and most flourishing ages of the church, are the perpetual badges of 
tar the greater part of those who take up their cross and follow Christ.’ 


This passage, at first, struck us to be untrue; and we could 
not immediately recollect the afflictions Dr. Rennel alluded to, 
till it occurred to us, that he must undoubtedly mean the eight 
hundred and fifty actions which, in the course of eighteen 
months, have been brought against the clergy for non-residence. 

Upon the danger to be apprehended from Roman Catholics 
in this country, Dr. Rennel is laughable. We should as 
soon dream that the wars of York and Lancaster would break 
out afresh, as that the Protestant religion in England has any 
thing to appréhend from the machinations of Catholics. ‘To 
such a scheme as that of Catholic emancipation, which has 
for its object to restore their natural rights to three or four 
millions of men, and to allay the fury of religious hatred, Dr. 
Rennel is, as might be expected, a very strenuous antagonist. 
Time, which lifts up the veil of political mystery, will inform 
us if the Doctor has taken that side of the question which may 
be as lucrative to himself as itis inimical to human happiness, 
and repugnant to enlightened policy. 

Of Dr. Rennel’s talents as a reasoner, we certainly have 
formed no very high opinion. Unless dogmatical assertion, 
and the practice (but too common among theological writers) 
of taking the thing to be proved, for part of the proof, can be 
considered as evidence of a logical understanding, the speci- 
mens of argument Dr. Rennel has afforded us are very insig- 
nificant. For putting obvious truths into vehement language; 
for expanding and adorning moral instruction; this gentleman 
certainly possesses considerable talents: and if he will mode- 
rate his insolence, steer clear of theological metaphysics, and 
consider rather those great laws of Christian practice, which 
must interest mankind through all ages, than the petty questions 
which are important to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for 
the time being, he may live beyond his own days, and become 
a star of the third or fourth magnitude in the English Church. 


JOHN BOWLES. 25 


JOHN BOWLES. (Eninsuren Review, 1802.) 


Reflections at the Conclusion of the War: Being a Sequel to Reflections 
on the Political and Moral State of Society at the Close of the 
Eighteenth Century. The Third Edition, with Additions. By 
John Bowles, Esq. 


Ir this piece be, as Mr. Bowles asserts,* the death-warrant of 
the liberty and power of Great Britain, we will venture to as- 
sert, that it is also the death-warrant of Mr. Bowles’s literary 
reputation; and that the people of this island, if they verily 
his predictions, and cease to read his books, whatever they 
may lose in political greatness, will evince no small improve- 
ment in critical acumen. ‘There is a political, as well asa 
bodily hypochondriasis; and there are empirics always on the 
watch to make their prey, either of the one or of the other. 
Dr. Solomon, Dr. Brodum, and Mr. Bowles, have all com- 
manded their share of the public attention: but the two 
former gentlemen continue to flourish with undiminished 
splendour; while the patients of the latter are fast dwindling 
away, and-his drugs falling into disuse and contempt. 

The truth is, if Mr. Bowles had begun his literary career 
ata period when superior discrimination, and profound thought, 
not vulgar violence, and the eternal repetition of rabble-rousing 
words, were necessary to literary reputation, he would neve 
have emerged from that obscurity to which he will soon re- 
turn. ‘lhe intemperate passions of the public, not his own 
talents, have given him some temporary reputation; and now, 
when men hope and fear with less eagerness than they have 
been lately accustomed to do, Mr. Bowles will be compelled 
to descend from that moderate eminence, where no man of 
real genius would ever have condescended to remain. 


*Tt is impossible to conceive the mischievous power of the corrupt 
alarmists of those days, and the despotic manner in which they exer- 
cised their authority. ‘They were fair objects for the Edinburgh 
Review. 

VOL. I.—-3 


26 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


The pamphlet is written in the genuine spirit of the Wind- 
ham and Burke School; though Mr. Bowles cannot be called a 
servile copyist of either of these gentlemen, as he has rejected 
the logic of the one, and the eloquence of the other, and imi- 
tated them only in their headstrong violence, and exagge- 
rated abuse. ‘There are some men who continue to astonish 
and please the world, even in the support of a bad cause. 
‘They are mighty in their fallacies, and beautiful in their errors. 
Mr. Bowles sees only one half of the precedent; and thinks, in 
order to be famous, that he has nothing to do but to be in the 
wrong. 

War, eternal war, till the wrongs of Europe are avenged, 
and the Bourbons restored, is the master-principle of Mr. 
Bowles’s political opinions, and the object for which he de- 
claims through the whole of the present pamphlet. 

The first apprehensions which Mr. Bowles seems to enter- 
tain, are of the boundless ambition and perfidious character of 
the First Consul, and of that military despotism he has estab- 
lished, which is not only impelled by the love of conquest, 
but interested, for its own preservation, to desire the over- 
throw of other states. Yet the author informs us, immediate- 
ly after, that the life of Buonaparte is exposed to more dangers 
than that of any other individual in Europe who is not actually 
in the last stage of an incurable disease ; and that his death, 
whenever it happens, must involve the dissolution of that ma- 
chine of government, of which he must be considered not only 
as the sole director, but the main spring. Confusion of thought, 
we are told, is one of the truest indications of terror; and the 
panic of this alarmist is so very great, that he cannot listen to 
the consolation which he himself affords: for itappears, upon 
summing up these perils, that we are in the utmost danger of 
being destroyed by a despot, whose system of government, 
as dreadful as himself, cannot survive him, and who, in all 
human probability, will be shot or hanged, before he can exe- 
cute any one of his projects against us. 

We have a good deal of flourishing in the beginning of the 
pamphlet, about the effect of the moral sense upon the stability 
of governments; that is, as Mr. Bowles explains it, the power 
which all old governments derive from the opinion entertained 
by the people of the justice of their rights. If this sense of 
ancient right be (as is here confidently asserted) strong enough 
ultimately to restore the Bourbons, why are we to fight for 


JOHN BOWLES. 27 


that which will be done without any fighting at all? And, if 
it be strong enough to restore, why was it weak enough to 
render restoration necessary? 

To notice every singular train of reasoning into which Mr. 
Bowles falls, is not possible ; and, in the copious choice of 
evils, we shall, from feelings of mercy, take the least. 

_It must not be forgotten, he observes, that ‘ those rights of 
government, which, because they are ancient, are recognized 
by the moral sense as lawful, are the only ones which are 
compatible with civil liberty.’ So that all questions of right 
and wrong, between the governors and the governed, are de- 
terminable by chronology alone. Every political institution 
is favourable to liberty, not according to its spirit, but in pro- 
portion to the antiquity of its date; and the slaves of Great 
Britain are groaning under the trial by jury, while the free 
men of Asia exult in the bold privilege transmitted to them by 
their fathers, of being trampled to death by elephants. 

In the 8th page, Mr. Bowles thinks that France, if she re- 
mains without a king, will conquer all Europe; and, in the 
19th page, that she will be an object of Divine vengeance till 
she takes one. In the same page, all the miseries of France 
are stated to be a judgment of heaven for their cruelty to the 
king; and, in the 33d page, they are discovered to proceed 
from the perfidy of the same king to this country in the 
American contest. So that certain misfortunes proceed from 
the maltreatment of a person, who had himself occasioned 
these identical misfortunes before he was maltreated; and 
while Providence is compelling the French, by every species 
of afiliction, to resume monarchical government, they are to 
acquire such extraordinary vigour, from not acting as Provi-* 
dence would wish, that they are to trample on every nation 
which co-operates with the Divine intention. 

In the 60th page, Mr. Bowles explains what is meant by 
Jacobinism; and, as a concluding proof of the justice with 
which the character is drawn, triumphantly quotes the case of 
a certain R. Mountain, who was tried for damning all kings 
and all governments upon earth; for, adds R. Mountain, ‘I am 
a Jacobin.’ Nobody can more thoroughly detest and despise 
that restless spirit of political innovation, which, we suppose, 
is meant by the name of Jacobinism, than we ourselves do; 
but we were highly amused with this proof, ab ebriis sutori- 
bus, of the prostration of Europe, the last hour of human 


28 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘ felicity, the perdition of man, discovered in the crapulous eruc- 
tations of a drunken cobler. 

This species of evidence might certainly have escaped a 
common observer: But this is not all; there are other proofs of 
treason and sedition, equally remote, sagacious, and profound. 
Many good subjects are not very much pleased with the idea 
of the Whig Club dining together; but Mr. Bowles has the 
merit of first calling the public attention to the alarming prac- 
tice of singing after dinner at these political meetings. He 
speaks with a proper horror of tavern dinners, 


‘—where conviviality is made a stimulus to disaffection—where wine 
serves only to inflame disloyalty—where toasts are converted into a 
vehicle of sedition—and where the powers of harmony are called forth 
in the cause of Discord by those hireling singers, who are equally 
ready to invoke the Divine favour on the head of their King, or to strain 
their venal throats in chanting the triumphs of his bitterest enemies.’ 


All complaint is futile, which is not followed up by appro- 
priate remedies. If Parliament, or Catarrh, do not save us, 
Dignum and Sedgwick will quaver away the King, shake down 
the House of Lords, and warble us into all the horrors of 
republican government. When, in addition to these dangers, 
we reflect also upon those with which our national happiness 
is menaced, by the present thinness of ladies’ petticoats (p. '78,) 
temerity may hope our salvation, but how can reason pro- 
mise it? 

One solitary gleam of comfort, indeed, beams upon us in 
reading the solemn devotion of this modern Curtius to the 
cause of his King and country— 

‘My attachmentto the British monarchy, and to the reigning family, 
is rooted in my “heart’s core.’—My anxiety for the British throne, © 
pending the dangers to which, in common with every other throne, it 
has lately been exposed, has embittered my choicest comforts. And 


I must solemnly vow, before Almighty God, to devote myself, to the 
end of my days, to the maintenance of that throne.’ 


Whether this patriotism be original, or whether it be copied 
from the Upholsterer in Foote’s Farces, who sits up whole 
nights watching over the British constitution, we shall not stop 
to inquire; because, when the practical effect of sentiments is 
good, we would not diminish their merits by investigating their 
origin. We seriously commend in Mr. Bowles this future 
dedication of his life to the service of his King and country ; 


JOHN BOWLES. 29 


and consider it as a virtual promise that he will write no 
more in their defence. No wise or good man has ever thought 
of either, but with admiration and respect. ‘That they should 
be exposed to that ridicule, by the forward imbecility of friend- 
ship, from which they appear to be protected by intrinsic 
worth, is so painful a consideration, that the very thought of 
it, we are persuaded, will induce Mr. Bowles to desist from 
writing on political subjects. 


30 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


DR. LANGFORD. (Eninzuneu Revyizw, 1802.) 


Anniversary Sermon of the Royal Humane Society. By W. Langford, 
D.D. Printed for F. and C. Rivington. 


Aw accident, which happened to the gentleman engaged in 
reviewing this Sermon proves, in the most striking manner, the 
importance of this charity for restoring to life persons in whom 
the vital power is suspended. He was discovered, with Dr. 
Langford’s* discourse lying open before him, in a state of the 
most profound sleep; from which he could not, by any means, 
be awakened for a great length of time. By attending, how- 
ever, to the rules prescribed by the Humane Society, flinging 
in the smoke of tobacco, applying hot flannels, and carefully 
removing the discourse itself to a great distance, the critic was 
restored to his disconsolate brothers. 

The only account he could give of himself was, that he re- 
members reading on, regularly, till he came to the following 
pathetic description of a drowned tradesman; beyond which 
he recollects nothing. 


‘But to the individual himself, as a man, letus add the interruption 
to all the temporal business in which his interest was engaged. To 
him indeed now apparently lost, the world is as nothing; but it sel- 
dom happens, that man can live for himself alone: society parcels out 
its concerns in various connections; and from one head issue waters 
which run down in many channels.—The spring being suddenly cut 
off, what confusion must follow in the streams which have flowed 
from its source? It may be, that all the expectations reasonably raised 
of approaching prosperity, to those who have embarked in the same 
occupation, may at once disappear; and the important interchange 
of commercial faith be broken off, before it could be brought to any 
advantageous conclusion.’ 


This extract will suffice for the style of the sermon. The 
charity itself is above all praise. 


*To this exceedingly foolish man, the first years of Etonian Educa- 
tion were intrusted. How is it possible to inflict a greater misfortune 
on a country, than to fill up such an office with such an officer? 


ARCHDEACON NARES. 31 


ARCHDEACON NARES.* (Epinsuren Review, 1802.) 


A Thanksgiving for Plenty, and Warning against Avarice. A Sermon. 
By the Reverend Robert Nares, Archdeacon of Stafford, and Canon 
Residentiary of Litchfield. London: Printed for the Author, and 
sold by Rivingtons, St. Paul’s Churchyard. 


For the swarm of ephemeral sermons which issue from the 

press, we are principally indebted to the vanity of popular 

preachers, who are puffed up by female praises into a belief, 

that what may be delivered, with great propriety, in a chapel 

full of visitors and friends, is fit for the deliberate attention of 
the public, who cannot be influenced by the decency of a cler- 

gyman’s private life, flattered by the sedulous politeness of his 

manners, or misled by the fallacious circumstances of voice 

and action. A clergyman cannot be always considered as 

reprehensible for preaching an indifferent sermon ; because, to 

- the active piety, and correct life, which the profession requires, 

many an excellent man may not unite talents for that species of 
composition; but every man who prints, imagines he gives to 

the world something which they had not before, either in mat- | 
ter or style; that he has brought forth new truths, or adorned | 
old ones; and when, in lieu of novelty and ornament, we can ’ 
discover nothing but trite imbecility, the law must take its 
course, and the delinquent suffer that mortification from which 
vanity can rarely be expected to escape, when it chooses dul- 
ness for the minister of its gratifications. 

The learned author, after observing that a large army pray- 
ing would bea much finer spectacle than a large army fighting, 
and after entertaining us with the old anecdote of Xerxes, and 
the flood of tears, proceeds to express his: sentiments on the 
late scarcity, and the present abundance ; then, stating the man- 
ner in which the Jews were governed by the immediate inter- 
ference of God, and informing us, that other people expect 
not, nor are taught to look for, miraculous interference, to 


* This was another gentleman of the alarmist tribe 


32 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


punish or reward them, he proceeds to talk of the visitation of 
Providence, for the purposes of trial, warning, and correction, 
as if it were a truth of which he had never doubted. 

Still, however, he contends, though the Deity does interfere, 
it would be presumptuous and impious to pronounce the pur- 
poses for which he interferes; and then adds, that it has pleased 
God, within these few years, to give us a most awful lesson 
of the vanity of agriculture and importation without piety, and 
that he has proved this to the conviction of every thinking mind. 

‘Though he interpose not (says Mr. Nares) by positive 
miracle, he influences by means unknown to all but himself, 
and directs the winds, the rain, and the glorious beams of 
heaven to execute his judgment, or fulfil his merciful designs.’ 
—Now, either the wind, the rain, and the beams, are here 
represented to act as they do in the ordinary course of nature, 
or they are not. If they are, how can their operations be con- 
sidered as a judgment on sins? and if they are not, what are 
their extraordinary operations, but positive miracles? So 
that the Archdeacon, after denying that any body knows when, 
how, and why the Creator works a miracle, proceeds to specify 
the time, instrument, and object of a miraculous scarcity ; 
and then, assuring us that the elements were employed to exe- 
cute the judgments of Providence, denies that this is any proof 
of a positive miracle. 

Having given us this specimen of his talents for theological 
metaphysics, Mr. Nares commences his attack upon the farm- 
ers; accuses them of cruelty and avarice; raises the old cry 
of monopoly; and expresses some doubts, in a note, whether 
the better way would not be, to subject their granaries to the 
control of an exciseman; and to levy heavy penalties upon 
those, in whose possession corn, beyond a certain quantity to 
be fixed by law, should be found.—This style of reasoning is 
pardonable enough in those who argue from the belly rather 
than the brains; but in a well fed, and well educated clergyman, 
who has never been disturbed by hunger from the free exer- 
cise of cultivated talents, it merits the severest reprehension. 
The farmer has it not in his power to raise the price of corn; 
he never has fixed and never can fix it. He is unquestion- 
ably justified in receiving any price he can obtain: for it hap- 
pens very beautifully, that the effect of his efforts to better his 
fortune, is as beneficial to the public, as if their motive had 
not been selfish. ‘The poor are not to be supported, in time 


ARCHDEACON NARES. 33 


of famine, by abatement of price on the part of the farmer, but 
by the subscription of residentiary canons, archdeacons, and 
all men rich in public or private property ; and to these sub- 
scriptions the farmer should contribute according to the amount 
of his fortune. ‘To insist that he should take a less price when 
he can obtain a greater, is to insist upon laying on that order 
of men the whole burden of supporting the poor; a convenient 
system enough in the eyes of a rich ecclesiastic ; and objection- 
able only, because it is impracticable, pernicious, and unjust.* 

The question of the corn trade has divided society into. two 
parts—those who have any talents for reasoning, and those 
who have not. We owe an apology to our readers, for taking 
any notice of errors that have been so frequently, and so un- 
answerably exposed; but when they are echoed from the bench 
and the pulpit, the dignity of the teacher may perhaps commu- 
nicate some degree of importance to the silliest and most ex- 
travagant doctrines. 

No reasoning can be more radically erroneous than that 
upon which the whole of Mr. Nares’s sermon is founded. 
The most benevolent, the most Christian, and the most profita- 
ble conduct the farmer can pursue, is, to sell his commodities 
for the highest price he can possibly obtain. ‘This advice, we 
think, is not in any great danger of being rejected: we wish 
we were equally sure of success in counselling the Reverend 
Mr. Nares to attend, in future, to practical, rather than theo- 
retical questions about provisions. He may be a very hospita- 
ble archdeacon; but nothing short of a positive miracle can 
make him an acute reasoner. 


* If it is pleasant to notice the intellectual growth of an individual, 
it is still more pleasant to see the public growing wiser. This absurd- 
ity of attributing the high price of corn to the combinations of farm- 
ers, was the common nonsense talked in the days of my youth. I re- 
member when ten judges out of twelve laid down this doctrine in their 
charges to the various grand juries on the circuits. The lowest at- 
torney’s clerk is now better instructed. 


‘Wing 


34 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


MATTHEW LEWIS. (Envrnsuren Review, 1803.) 


Alfonso, King of Castile. A Tragedy, in five Acts. By M. G. Lewis. 
_ Price 2s. 6d. 


Atronso, king of Castile, had, many years previous to the 
supposed epoch of the play, left his minister and general, Or- 
sino, to perish in prison, from a false accusation of treason. 
Cesario, son to Orsino, (who by accident had liberated Amel- 
rosa, daughter of Alfonso, from the Moors, and who is married 
to her, unknown to the father,) becomes a great favourite with 
the King, and avails himself of the command of the armies 
with which he is intrusted, to gratify his revenge for his father’s 
misfortunes, to forward his own ambitious views, and to lay a 
plot by which he may deprive Alfonso of his throne and his 
life. Marquis Guzman, poisoned by his wife Ottilia in love with 
Cesario, confesses to the King that the papers upon which 
the suspicion of Orsino’s guilt was founded, were forged by 
him: and the King, learning from his daughter Amelrosa that 
Orsino is still alive, repairs to his retreat in the forest, is re- 
ceived with the most implacable hauteur and resentment, and 
in vain implores forgiveness of his injured minister. ‘To the 
same forest, Cesario, informed of the existence of his father, 
repairs, and reveals his intended plot against the King. Orsi- 
no, convinced of Alfonso’s goodness to his subjects, though 
incapable of forgiving him for his unintentional injuries to him- 
self, in vain dissuades his son from the conspiracy; and at 
last, ignorant of their marriage, acquaints Amelrosa with the 
plot formed by her husband against her father. Amelrosa, 
already poisoned by Ottilia, in vain attempts to prevent Cesa- 
rio from blowing up a mine laid under the royal palace; in- 
formation of which she had received from Ottilia, stabbed by 
Cesario to avoid her importunity. In the mean time, the 
King had been removed from the palace by Orsino, to his 
ancient retreat in the forest: the people rise against the usurper 
Cesario; a battle takes place: Orsino stabs his own son, at the 
moment the King is in his son’s power; falls down from 


MATTHEW LEWIS. 35 


the wounds he has received in battle; and dies in the usual 
dramatic style, repeating twenty-two hexameter verses. Mr. 
Lewis says in his preface, 


‘To the assertion, that my play is stupid, I have nothing to object; 
if it be found so, even let it be so said; but if (as was most falsely as- 
serted of Adelmorn) any anonymous writer should advance that this 
Tragedy is immoral, I expect him to prove his assertion by quoting 
the objectionable passages. This Idemand as an act of justice.’ 


We confess ourselves to have been highly delighted with 
these symptoms of returning, or perhaps nascent purity in the 
mind of Mr. Lewis; a delight somewhat impaired, to be sure, 
at the opening of the play, by the following explanation which 
Ottilia gives of her early rising. 


‘ACT I. Scenz 1—The palace-garden.—Day-break. 
Orrixra enters in a night-dress: her hair flows dishevelled. 


‘Orrit. Dews of the morn descend! Breathe, summer gales: 
: My flushed cheeks woo ye! Play, sweet wantons, play 
*Mid my loose tresses, fan my panting breast, 
Quench my blood’s burning fever!—Vain, vain prayer! 
Not Winter throned ’midst Alpine snows, whose will 
Can with one breath, one touch, congeal whole realms, 
And blanch whole seas: not that fiend’s self could ease 
This heart, this gulf of flames, this purple kingdom, 
Where passion rules and rages!’ 


Oitilia at last becomes quite furious, from the conviction 
that Cesario has been sleeping with a second lady, called 
Estella; whereas he has really been sleeping with a third lady, 
called Amelrosa. Passing across the stage, this gallant gentle- 
man takes an opportunity of mentioning to the audience, that 
he has been passing his time very agreeably, meets Ottilia, 
quarrels, makes it up; and so end the first two or three scenes. 

Mr. Lewis will excuse us for the liberty we take in com- 
menting on a few passages in his play which appear to us rather 
exceptionable. ‘The only information which Cesario, imagin- 
ing his father to have been dead for many years, receives of 
his existence, is in the following short speech of Melchior. 

‘Mexca. The Count San Lucar, long thought dead, but saved, 

It seems, by Amelrosa’s care.—Time presses— 
I must away: farewell.’ 


To this laconic, but important information, Czesario makes 


36 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


no reply; but merely desires Melchior to meet him at one 
o’clock, under the Royal Tower, and for some other purposes. 

In the few cases which have fallen under our observation, 
of fathers restored to life after a supposed death of twenty 
years, the parties concerned have, on the first information, 
appeared a little surprised, and generally asked a few questions; 
though we do not go the length of saying it is natural so to do. 
This same Cesario (whose love of his father is a principal 
cause of his conspiracy against the King) begins criticising 
the old warrior, upon his first seeing him again, much as a vir- 
tuoso would criticise an ancient statue that wanted an arm or 


a leg. 


Orsrno enters from the cave. 


‘Cmsanrio. Now by my life 
A noble ruin 


Amelrosa, who imagines her father to have banished her 
from his presence for ever, in the first transports of joy for 
pardon, obtained by earnest intercessions, thus exclaims :— 

‘Lend thy doves, dear Venus, 
That I may send them where Cesario strays: 
And while he smooths their silver wings, and gives them 
For drink the honey of his lips, I'll bid them 
Coo in his ear, his Amelrosa’s happy!’ 


What judge of human feelings does not recognize in these 
images of silver wings, doves and honey, the genuine lan- 
guage of the passions? 

If Mr. Lewis is really in earnest in pointing out the coinci- 
dence between his own dramatic sentiments, and the Gospel 
of St. Matthew, such a reference (wide as we know this 
assertion to be) evinces a want of judgment, of which we 
did not think him capable. If it proceeded from irreligious 
levity, we pity the man who has bad taste enough not to prefer 
honest dulness to such paltry celebrity. 

We beg leave to submit to Mr. Lewis, if Alfonso, considering 
the great interest he has in the decision, might not interfere a 
little in the long argument carried on between Cesario and 
Orsino, upon the propriety of putting him to death. To have 
expressed any decisive opinion upon the subject, might per- 
haps have been incorrect; but a few gentle hints as to that 
side of the question to which he leaned, might be fairly 
allowed to be no very unnatural incident. 


MATTHEW LEWIS. 37 


This tragedy delights in explosions. Alfonso’s empire is 
destroyed by a blast of gunpowder, and restored by a clap of 
thunder. After the death of Cesario, and a short exhortation 
to that purpose by Orsino, all the conspirators fall down in a 
thunder-clap, ask pardon of the king, and are forgiven. This 
mixture of physical and moral power is beautiful! How 
interesting a water-spout would appear among Mr. Lewis’s 
kings and queens! We anxiously look forward, in his next 
tragedy, to a fall of snow three or four feet deep; or expect 
that a plot shall gradually unfold itself by means of a general 
thaw. 

All is not so bad in this play. ‘There is some strong paint- 
ing, which shows, every now and then, the hand of a master. 
The agitation which Cesario exhibits upon his first joining 
the conspirators in the cave, previous to the blowing up of the 
mine, and immediately after stabbing Ottilia, is very fine. 


‘Czsarto. ‘Ay, shout, shout, 
And kneeling greet your blood-anointed king, 
This steel his sceptre! Tremble, dwarfs in guilt, 
And own your master! Thou art proof, Henriquez, 
*Gainst pity; I once saw thee stab in battle 
A page who clasped thy knees: And Melchior there 
Made quick work with a brother whom he hated. 
But what did I this night? Hear, hear, and reverence! 
There was a breast, on which my head had rested 
A thousand times; a breast which loved me fondly 
As heaven loves martyred saints; and yet this breast 
I stabbed, knave—stabbed it to the heart—Wine! wine there? 
For my soul’s joyous !’—p. 86. 

The resistance which Amelrosa opposes to the firing of the 
mine, is well wrought out; and there is some good poetry 
scattered up and down the play, of which we should very 
willingly make extracts, if our limits would permit. ‘The ill 
success which it has justly experienced, is owing, we have 
no doubt, to the want of nature in the characters, and of proba- 
bility and good arrangement in the incidents; objections of 
some force. i 


38 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


o 


AUSTRALIA. (Eninnuren Review, 1803.) 


Account of the English Colony of New South Wales. By Lieutenant- 
Colonel Collins of the Royal Marines. Vol. II. 4to. Cadell and 
Davies, London. 


To introduce an European population, and consequently, the 
arts and civilization of Europe, into such an untrodden country 
as New Holland, is to confer a lasting and important benefit 
upon the world. If man be destined for perpetual activity, 
and if the proper objects of that activity be the subjugation of 
physical difficulties, and of his own dangerous passions, how 
absurd are those systems which proscribe the acquisitions of 
science and the restraints of law, and would arrest the progress 
of man in the rudest and earliest stages of his existence! 
Indeed, opinions so very extravagant in their nature must be 
attributed rather to the wantonness of paradox, than to sober 
reflection, and extended inquiry. 

To suppose the savage state permanent, we must suppose 
the numbers of those who compose it to be stationary, and 
the various passions by which men have actually emerged 
from it to be extinct; and this is to suppose man a very dif- 
ferent being from what he really is. ‘To prove such a perma- 
nence beneficial (if it were possible), we must have recourse 
to matter of fact, and judge of the rude state of society, not 
from the praises of tranquil /i¢erati, but from the narratives of 
those who. have seen it, through a nearer and better medium 
than that of imagination. ‘There is an argument, however, 
for the continuation of evil, drawn from the ignorance of good; 
by which it is contended, that to teach men their situation can 
be better, is to teach them that it 7s bad, and to destroy that 
happiness which always results from an ignorance that any 
greater happiness is within our reach. All pains and pleasures 
are clearly by comparison; but the most deplorable savage 
enjoys a sufficient contrast of good, to know that the grosser 
evils from which civilization rescues him are evils. A New 
Hollander seldom passes a year without suffering from famine ; 


AUSTRALIA. 39 


the small-pox falls upon him like a plague; he dreads those 
calamities, though he does not know how to avert them; but, 
doubtless, would find his happiness increased, if they were 
averted. To deny this, is to suppose that men are reconciled 
to evils, because they are inevitable ; and yet hurricanes, earth- 
quakes, bodily decay, and death, stand highest in the catalogue 
of human calamities. 

Where civilization gives new birth to new comparisons un- 
favourable to savage life, with the information that a greater 
good is possible, it generally connects the means of attaining 
it. ‘The savage no sooner becomes ashamed of his nakedness, 
than the loom is ready to clothe him; the forge prepares for 
him more perfect tools, when he is disgusted with the awk- 
wardness of his own: his weakness is strengthened, and his 
wants supplied as soon as they are discovered; and the use of 
the discovery is, that it enables him to derive from comparison 
the best proof of present happiness. A man born blind is 
ignorant of the pleasures of which he is deprived. After the 
restoration of his sight, his happiness will be increased from 
two causes;—from the delight he experiences at the novel 
accession of power, and from the contrast he will always be 
enabled to make between his two situations, long after the 
pleasure of novelty has ceased. For these reasons, it is hu- 
mane to restore him to sight. 

But, however beneficial to the general interests of mankind 
the civilization of barbarous countries may be considered to 
be, in this particular instance of it, the interest of Great Britain 
would seem to have been very little consulted. With fanciful 
schemes of universal good we have no business to meddle. 
Why we are to erect penitentiary houses and prisons at the 
distance of half the diameter of the globe, and to incur the 
enormous expense of feeding and transporting their inhabitants 
to and at such a distance, it is extremely difficult to discover. 
It certainly is not from any deficiency of barren islands near 
our Own coast, nor of uncultivated wastes in the interior; and 
if we were sufficiently fortunate to be wanting in such species 
of accommodation, we might discover in Canada, or the West 
Indies, or on the coast of Africa, a climate malignant enough, 
or a soil sufficiently sterile, to revenge all the injuries which 
have been inflicted on society by pick-pockets, larcenists, and 
petty felons.—Upon the foundation of a new colony, and 
especially one peopled by criminals, there is a disposition in 


40 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Government (where any circumstance in the commission of 
the crime affords the least pretence for the commutation) to 
convert capital punishments into transportation; and by these 
means to hold forth a very dangerous, though certainly a very 
unintentional, encouragement to offences. And when the his- 
tory of the colony has been attentively perused in the parish 
of St. Giles, the ancient avocation of picking pockets will 
certainly not become more discreditable from the knowledge, 
that it may eventually lead to the possession of a farm of a 
thousand acres on the river Hawkesbury. Since the benevo- 
lent Howard attacked our prisons, incarceration has become 
not only healthy but elegant; and acounty jail is precisely the 
place to which any pauper might wish to retire to gratify his 
taste for magnificence as well as for comfort. Upon the same 
principle, there is some risk that transportation will be con- 
sidered as one of the surest roads to honour and to wealth; 
and that no felon will hear a verdict of ‘not guilty’ without 
considering himself as cut off in the fairest career of prosperity. 
It is foolishly believed, that the colony of Botany Bay unites 
our moral and commercial interests, and that we shall receive 
hereafter an ample equivalent, in bales of goods, for all the 
vices we export. Unfortunately, the expenses we have in- 
curred in founding the colony, will not retard the natural pro- 
gress of its emancipation, or prevent the attacks of other 
nations, who will be as desirous of reaping the fruit, as if they 
had sown the seed. It is a colony, besides, begun under every 
possible disadvantage; it is too distant to be long governed, 
or well defended; it is undertaken, not by the voluntary asso- 
ciation of individuals, but by Government, and by means of 
compulsory labour. A nation must, indeed, be redundant in 
capital, that will expend it where the hopes of a just return 
are so very small. 

It may be a very curious consideration, to reflect what we 
are to do with this colony when it comes to years of discretion. 
Are we to spend another hundred millions of money in dis- 
covering its strength, and to humble ourselves again before a 
fresh set of Washingtons and Franklins? ‘The moment after we 
have suffered such serious mischief from the escape of the old 
tiger, we are breeding up a young cub, whom we cannot ren- 
der less ferocious, or more secure. If we are gradually to 
manumit the colony, as it is more and more capable of pro- 
tecting itself, the degrees of emancipation, and the periods at 


AUSTRALIA. 41 


which they are to take place, will be judged of very differently 
by the two nations. But we confess ourselves not to be so 
sanguine as to suppose, that a spirited and commercial people 
would, in spite of the example of America, ever consent to 
abandon their sovereignty over an important colony, without 
a struggle. Endless blood and treasure will be exhausted to 
support a tax on kangaroos’ skins; faithful Commons will go 
on voting fresh supplies to support a just and necessary war; 
and Newgate, then become a quarter of the world, will evince 
a heroism, not unworthy of the great characters by whom she 
was originally peopled. 

The experiment, however, is not less interesting in amoral, 
because it is objectionable in a commercial point of view. It 
is an object of the highest curiosity, thus to have the growth 
of a nation subjected to our examination; to trace it by such 
faithful records, from the first day of its existence; and to 
gather that knowledge of the progress of human affairs, from 
actual experience, which is considered to be only accessible to 
the conjectural reflections of enlightened minds. 

Human nature, under very old governments, is so trimmed, 
and pruned, and ornamented, and led into such a variety of fac- 
titious shapes, that we are almost ignorant of the appearance it 
would assume, if it were left more to itself. From such an expe- 
riment as that now before us, we shall be better able to appre- 
ciate what circumstances of our situation are owing to those 
permanent laws by which all men are influenced, and what to 
the accidental positions in which we have been placed. New 
circumstances will throw new light upon the effects of our 
religious, political and economical institutions, if we cause 
them to be adopted as models in our rising empire; and if we 
do not, we shall estimate the effects of their presence, by 
observing those which are produced by their non-existence. 

The history of the colony is at present, however, in its 
least interesting state, on account of the great preponderance 
of depraved inhabitants, whose crimes and irregularities give 
a monotony to the narrative, which it cannot lose, till the re- 
spectable part of the community come to bear a greater propor- 
tion to the criminal. 

These Memoirs of Colonel Collins, resume the history of 
the colony from the period at which he concluded it in his 
former volume, September 1796, and continue it down to 
August 1801. They are written in the style of a journal, 

VOL. I.—4 


42 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


which though not the most agreeable mode of conveying infor- 
mation, is certainly the most authentic, and contrives to banish 
the suspicion (and most probably the reality) of the interference 
of abook-maker—a species of gentlemen who are now almost 
become necessary to deliver naval and military authors in their 
literary labours, though they do not always atone, by ortho- 
graphy and grammar, for the sacrifice of truth and simplicity. 
Mr. Collins’s book is written with great plainness and ecandour: 
he appears to be a man always meaning well; of good, plain 
common sense; and composed of those well-wearing materials, 
which adapt a person for situations where genius and refine- 
ment would only prove a source of misery and of error. 

We shall proceed to lay before our readers an analysis of 
the most important matter contained in this volume. 

The natives in the vicinity of Port Jackson stand extremely 
low, in point of civilization, when compared with many other 
savages, with whom the discoveries of Captain Cook have 
made us acquainted. Their notions of religion exceed even 
that degree of absurdity which we are led to expect in the creed 
ofa barbarous people. In politics, they appear to have searcely 
advanced beyond family-government. Huts they have none; 
and, in all their economical inventions, there is a rudeness 
and deficiency of ingenuity, unpleasant, when contrasted with 
the instances of dexterity with which the descriptions and 
importations of our navigators have rendered us so familiar. 
Their numbers appear to us to be very small: a fact, at once, 
indicative either of the ferocity of manners in any people, or, 
more probably, of the sterility of their country ; but which, in 
the present instance, proceeds from both these causes. 


‘Gaining every day (says Mr. Collins) some further knowledge of 
the inhuman habits and customs of these people, their being so thinly 
scattered through the country ceased to be a matter of surprise. It 
was almost daily seen, that from some trifling cause or other, they 
were continually living in a state of warfare: to this must be added 
their brutal treatment of their women, who are themselves equally 
destructive to the measure of population, by the horrid and cruel cus- 
tom of endeavouring to cause a miscarriage, which their female ac- 
quaintances effect by pressing the body in such a way, as to destroy 
the infant in the womb; which violence not unfrequently occasions 
the death of the unnatural mother also. To this they have recourse 
to avoid the trouble of carrying the infant about when born, which, 
when it is very young, or at the breast, is the duty of the woman. 
The operation for this destructive purpose is termed Mee-bra. The 
bury ng an infant when at the breast) with the mother, if she should 


AUSTRALIA. 43 


die, is another shocking cause of the thinness of population among 
them. The fact that such an operation as the Mee-bra was practised 
by these wretched people, was communicated by one of the natives to 
the principal surgeon of the settlement.’—(p. 124, 125.) 


It is remarkable, that the same paucity of numbers has been 
observed in every part of New Holland which has hitherto been 
explored; and yet there is not the smallest reason to conjecture 
that the population of it has been very recent; nor do the people 
bear any marks of descent from the inhabitants of the nume- 
rous islands by which this great continent is surrounded. 'The 
force of population can only be resisted by some great physi- 
cal evils; and many of the causes of this scarcity of human 
beings which Mr. Collins refers to the ferocity of the natives, 
are ultimately referable to the difficulty of support. We have 
always considered this phenomenon as a symptom extremely 
unfavourable to the future destinies of this country. It is easy 
to launch out into eulogiums of the fertility of nature in par- 
ticular spots; but the most probable reason why a country that 
has beeu long inhabited, is not well inhabited, is, that it is not 
calculated to support many inhabitants without great labour. 
It is difficult to suppose any other causes powerful enough to 
resist the impetuous tendency of man, to obey that mandate 
for increase and multiplication, which has certainly been better 
observed than any other declaration of the Divine will ever 
revealed to us. 

‘There appears to be some tendency to civilization, and some 
tolerable notions of justice, in a practice very similar to our 
custom of duelling; for duelling, though barbarous in civilized, 
is a highly civilized institution among barbarous people: and 
when compared to assassination, is a prodigious victory gained 
over human passions. Whoever kills another in the neigh- 
bourhood of Botany Bay, is compelled to appear at an appointed 
day before the friends of the deceased, and to sustain the attacks 
of their missile weapons. — If he is killed, he is deemed to have 
met with a deserved death; if not, he is considered to have 
expiated the crime for the commission of which he was ex- 
posed to the danger. There is in this institution a command 
Over present impulses, a prevention of secrecy in the gratifi- 
cation of revenge, and a wholesome correction of that passion 
by the effect of public observation, which evince such a supe- 
riority to the mere animal passions of ordinary savages, and 
form such a contrast to the rest of the history of this people, 


44 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


that it may be considered as altogether an anomalous and inex- 
plicable fact. The natives differ very much in the progress 
they have made in the arts of economy. Those to the North 
of Port Jackson evince a considerable degree of ingenuity and 
contrivance in the structure of their houses, which are rendered 
quite impervious to the weather, while the inhabitants at Port 
Jackson have no houses at all. At Port Dalrymple, in Van, 
Diemen’s Land, there was every reason to believe the natives 
were unacquainted with the use of canoes ; a fact extremely 
embarrassing to those who indulge themselves in speculating 
on the genealogy of nations; because it reduces them to the 
necessity of supposing that the progenitors of this insular people 
swam over from the main land, or that they were aboriginal ; 
a species of dilemma, which effectually bars all conjecture 
upon the intermixture of nations. It is painful to learn, that 
the natives have begun to plunder and rob in so very alarming 
a manner, that it has been repeatedly found necessary to fire 
upon them; and many have, in consequence, fallen victims to 
their rashness. 

The soil is found to produce coal in vast abundance, salt, 
lime, very fine iron ore, timber fit for all purposes, excellent 
flax, and a tree, the bark of which is admirably adapted for 
cordage. ‘The discovery of coal (which, by the by, we do not 
believe was ever before discovered so near the line) is proba- 
bly rather a disadvantage than an advantage; because, as it 
lies extremely favourable for sea carriage, it may prove to bea 
cheaper fuel than wood, and thus operate as a discouragement 
to the clearing of lands. ‘The soil upon the sea-coast has not 
been found to be very productive, though it improves in par- 
tial spots in the interior. ‘The climate is healthy, in spite of 
the prodigious heat of the summer months, at which period the 
thermometer has been observed to stand in the shade at 107, 
and the leaves of garden-vegetables to fall into dust, as if they 
had been consumed with fire. ‘ But one of the most insuperable 
defects in New Holland, considered as the future country of a 
great people, is, the want of large rivers penetrating very far 
into the interior, and navigable for small crafts. ‘The Hawkes- 
bury, the largest river yet discovered, is not accessible to boats 
for more than twenty miles. ‘This same river occasionally 
rises above its natural level, to the astonishing height of fifty 
feet; and has swept away, more than once, the labours and the 
hopes of the new people exiled to its banks. 


AUSTRALIA. 45 


The laborious acquisition of any good we have long enjoyed 
is apt to be forgotten. We walk and talk, and run and read, 
without remembering the long and severe labour dedicated to 
the cultivation of these powers, the formidable obstacles opposed 
to our progress, or the infinite satisfaction with which we over- 
came them. He who lives among a civilized people, may 
estimate the labour by which society has been brought into 
such a state, by reading these annals of Botany Bay, the account 
of a whole nation exerting itself to new floor the government- 
house, repair the hospital, or build a wooden receptacle for 
stores. Yet the time may come, when some Botany Bay ‘T'aci- 
tus shall record the crimes of an emperor lineally descended 
from a London pick-pocket, or paint the valour with which he 
has led his New Hollanders into the heart of China. At that 
period, when the Grand Lahma is sending to supplicate alliance; 
when the spice islands are purchasing peace with nutmegs; 
when enormous tributes of green tea and nankeen are wafted 
into Port Jackson, and landed on the quays of Sydney, who 
will ever remember that the sawing of a few planks, and the 
knocking together a few nails, were such a serious trial of the 
energies and resources of the nation? 

The Government of the colony, after enjoying some little 
respite from this kind of labour, has begun to turn its attention 
to the coarsest and most necessary species of manufactures, for 
which their wool appears to be well adapted. ‘The state of 
stock in the whole settlement, in June 1801, was about 7,000 
sheep, 1,300 head of cattle, 250 horses, and 5,000 hogs. There 
were under cultivation at the same time, between 9 and 10,000 
acres of corn. ‘Three years and a-half before this, in Decem- 
ber 1797, the numbers were as follows:—Sheep, 2,500; cattle 
350; horses, 100; hogs, 4,300; acres of land in cultivation, 
4,000. The temptation to salt pork, and sell it for Govern- 
ment store, is probably the reason why the breed of hogs has 
been so much kept under. The increase of cultivated lands 
between the two periods is prodigious. It appears (p. 319.) 
that the whole number of convicts imported between January 
1788 and June 1801 (a period of thirteen years and a half,) 
has been about 5,000, of whom 1,157 were females. ‘The 
total amount of the population on the continent, as well as at 
Norfolk Island, amounted, June 1801, to 6,500 persons; of these 
766 were children born at Port Jackson. In the returns from 
Norfolk Island, children are not discriminated from adults. 


46 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Let us add to the imported population of 5,000 convicts, 500 
free people, which (if we consider that a regiment of soldiers 
has been kept up there) is certainly a very small allowance; 
then, in thirteen years and a half, the imported population has 
increased only by two-thirteenths. If we suppose that some- 
thing more than a fifth of the free people were women, this 
will make the total of women 1,270; of whom we may fairly 
presume that 800 were capable of child-bearing; and if we sup- 
pose the children of Norfolk Island to bear the same proportion 
to the adults as at Port Jackson, their total number at both 
settlements will be 913 ;—a state of infantine population which 
certainly does not justify the very high eulogiums which have 
been made on the fertility of the female sex in the climate of 
New Holland. 

The Governor, who appears on all occasions to be an ex- 
tremely well-disposed man, is not quite so conversant in the 
best writings on political economy as we could wish: and indeed 
(though such knowledge would be extremely serviceable to 
the interests which this Romulus of the Southern Pole is super- 
intending, ) it is rather unfair to exact from a superintendent of 
pick-pockets, that he should be a philosopher. In the 18th 
page we have the following information respecting the price 
of labour:— 

‘Some representations having been made to the Governor from the 
settlers in different parts of the colony, purporting that the wages de- 
manded by the free labouring people, whom they had occasion to hire, 
were so exorbitant as torun away with the greatest part of the profit 
of their farms, it was recommended to them to appoint quarterly meet- 
ings among themselves, to be held in each district, for the purpose of 
settling the rate of wages to labourers in every different kind of work; 
that, to this end, a written agreement should be entered into, and sub- 
scribed by each settler, a breach of which should be punished by a 
penalty, to be fixed by the general opinion, and made recoverable in 
a court of civil judicature. It was recommended to them to apply 
this forfeiture to the common benefit; and they were totransmit to the 
head-quarters a copy of their agreement, with the rate of wages which 
they should from time to time establish, for the Governor’s information, 
holding their first meeting as early as possible.’ 


And again, at p. 24, the Gals arrangements on that 
head are enacted:— 

‘In pursuance of the order which was issued in January last recom- 
mending the settlers to appoint meetings, at which they should fix the 


rate of wages that it might be proper to pay for the different kinds of 
labour which their farms should require, the settlers had submitted to 


AUSTRALIA. 47 


the Governor the several resolutions that they had entered into, by 
which he was enabled to fix a rate that he conceived to be fair and 
equitable between the farmer and the labourer. 


‘The following prices of labour were now established, viz. 


gt es 
Felling forest timber, per acre - - sts0e 9. 6 
Ditto in brush ground, ditto’ - - > = © 0°10"''6 
Burning off open ground, ditto - - - ot De eg 
Ditto brush ground, ditto - - - - 110 0 
Breaking up new ground, ditto - _- - - 140 
Chipping fresh ground, ditto - - - - 012 8 
Chipping in wheat, per acre - - age A a ode 
Breaking up stubble or corn ground, 14d. per rod. 
or ditto . - - 016 8 
Planting Indian corn, ditto - - - - 0 7 0 
Hilling ditto ditto - - - ways Alay Sea Ol 
Reaping wheat, ditto - ° - - 010 0 
Thrashing ditto, per bushel, ditto - - = ig, A ra 
Pulling and husking Indian corn, per pushel - 0 0 6 
Splitting valing of seven feet long, per Shi hie - 0 3 0 
Ditto of five feet long, ditto ~ - - 0 1 6 
Sawing plank, ditto . - 0 7 0 
Ditching per rod, three feet wide and three feet deep 0 010 
Carriage of wheat, per bushel, per mile - - Ne di! aA, age 
Ditto Indian corn, neat - - - - ars a 
Yearly wages for labour, with board - - - 10 0 0 


Wages per week, with provisions, consisting of 4 lb. of 
salt pork, or 6 lb, of eee and 21 lb. of wheat with 


vegetables - - - - 0 6 0 
A day? S wages with iar - - - a al Re | 
Ditto without board - - - - - 0 2 6 
A government-man allowed to officers or settlers in their 

own time ,- - - - - - 0 010 
Price of an axe - - - - ein 0 5240 
New steeling ditto - - - » - © 0 6 
A new hoe - - - - - =f OD De. F 
A sickle - - - - - oh 4 O16 
Hire of a boat to carry grain, per day - - - 0 5 0 


‘The settlers were reminded, that, in order to prevent any kind of 
dispute between the master and servant, when they should have occa- 
sion to hire a man for any length of time, they would find it most con- 
venient to engage him for a quarter, half-year, or year, and to make 
their agreement in writing; on which, should any dispute arise, an 
appeal to the magistrates would settle it’ 


This is all very bad; and if the Governor had cherished the 
intention of destroying the colony, he could have done nothing 
more detrimental to its interests. The high price of labour is 
the very corner-stone on which the prosperity-of a new colony 


48 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


depends. It enables the poor man to live with ease; and is 
the strongest incitement to population, by rendering children 
rather a source of riches than of poverty. If the same diffi- 
culty of subsistence existed in new countries as in old, it is 
plain that the progress of population would be equally slow in 
each. ‘The very circumstances which cause the difference are, 
that, in the latter, there is a competition among the labourers 
to be employed; and, in the former, a competition among the 
occupiers of land to obtain labourers. In the one, land is scarce 
and men plenty; in the other, men are scarce, and land is plenty. 
To disturb this natural order of things (a practice injurious at 
all times) must be particularly so where the predominant dispo- 
sition of the colonist is an aversion to labour, produced by a 
long course of dissolute habits. In such eases the high prices 
of labour, which the Governor was so desirous of abating, bid 
fair not only to increase the agricultural prosperity, but to effect 
the moral reformation of the colony. We observe the same 
unfortunate ignorance of the elementary principles of com- 
merce in the attempts of the Governor to reduce the prices of 
the European commodities, by bulletins and authoritative inter- 
ference, as if there were any other mode of lowering the price 
of an article (while the demand continues the same) but by 
increasing its quantity. ‘The avaricious love of gain, which is 
so feelingly deplored, appears to us a principle which, in able 
hands, might be guided to the most salutary purposes. ‘The 
object is to encourage the love of labour, which is best encou- 
raged by the love of money. We have very great doubts on 
the policy of reserving the best timber on the estates as govern- 
ment timber. Such a reservation would probably operate as 
a check upon the clearing of lands without attaining the object 
desired; for the timber, instead of being immediately cleared, 
would be slowly destroyed, by the neglect or malice of the 
settlers whose lands it encumbered. ‘Timber is such a drug 
in new countries, that it is at any time to be purchased for little 
more than the labour of cutting. ‘To secure a supply of it by 
vexatious and invidious laws, is surely a work of superero- 
gation and danger. ‘The greatest evil which the government 
has yet had to contend with is, the inordinate use of spirituous 
liquors; a passion which puts the interests of agriculture at 
variance with those of morals: for a dram-drinker will consume 
as much corn, in the form of alcohol, in one day, as would 
supply him with bread for three; and thus, by his vices, opens 


AUSTRALIA. 49 


m admirable market to the industry of anew settlement. ‘The 
only mode, we believe, of encountering this evil, is by deriving 
‘rom it such a revenue as will notadmitof smuggling. Beyond 
this it is almost invincible by authority; and is probably to be 
cured only by the progressive refinement of manners. 

To evince the increasing commerce of the settlement, a list 
is subjoined of 140 ships, which have arrived there since its 
first foundation, forty only of which were from England. ‘The 
colony at Norfolk Island is represented to be in a very deplor- 
able situation, and will most probably be abandoned for one 
about to be formed on Van Diemen’s Land,* though the capital 
defect of the former settlement has been partly obviated, by a 
discovery of the harbour for small craft. 

The most important and curious information contained in 
this volume, is the discovery of straits which separate Van 
Diemen’s Land (hitherto considered as its southern extremity) 
from New Holland. For this discovery we are indebted to Mr. 
Bass, a surgeon, after whom the straits have been named, and 
who was led to a suspicion of their existence by a prodigious 
swell which he observed to set in from the westward, at the 
mouth of the opening which he had reached on a voyage of 
discovery, prosecuted in a common whale-boat. ‘To verify 
this suspicion, he proceeded afterwards in a vessel of 25 tons, 
accompanied by Mr. Flanders, a naval gentleman; and, entering 
the straits between the latitudes of 39° and 40° south, actually 
circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land. Mr. Bass’s ideas of 
the importance of this discovery, we shall give from his narra- 
tive, as reported by Mr. Collins. 


‘The most prominent advantage which seemed likely to accrue to 
the settlement from this discovery was, the expediting of the passage 
from the Cape of Good Hope to Port Jackson: for, although a line 
drawn from the Cape to 44° of south latitude, and to the longitude of 
the South Cape of Van Diemen’s Land, would not sensibly differ from 
one drawn to the latitude of 40° to the same longitude; yet it must be 
allowed, that a ship will be four degrees nearer to Port Jackson in the 
latter situation than it would be in the former. But there is, perhaps, 
a greater advantage to be gained by making a passage through the 
Strait, than the mere saving of four degrees of latitude along the coast, 


*It is singular that Governments are not more desirous of pushing 
their settlements rather to the north than the south of Port Jackson. 
The soil and climate would probably improve, in the latitude nearer 
the equator; and settlements in that position would be more contiguous 
to our Indian colonies. 


v4 


50 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


The major part of the ships that have arrived at Port Jackson have 
met with N. E. winds, on opening the sea round the South Cape and 
Cape Pillar; and have been so much retarded by them, that a fourteen 
days’ passage to the port is reckoned to be a fair one, although the 
difference of latitude is but ten degrees, and the most prevailing winds 
at the latter place are from 8S. E. to S. in summer, and from W. S. W. 
to 8S. in winter. If, by going through Bass Strait, these N. E. winds 
can be avoided, which in many cases would probably be the case, 
there is no doubt but a week or more would be gained by it; and the 
expense, with the wear and tear of a ship for one week, are objects 
to most owners, more especially when freighted with convicts by the 
run. 

‘This strait likewise presents another advantage. From the preva- 
lence of the N. E. and easterly winds off the South Cape, many sup- 
pose that a passage may be made from thence to the westward, either 
to the Cape of Good Hope, or to India; but the fear of the great un- 
known bight between the South Cape and the 8. W. Cape of Lewen’s 
Land, lying in about 35° south and 113° east, has hitherto prevented 
the trial being made. Now, the strait removes a part of this danger, 
by presenting a certain place of retreat, should a gale oppose itself to 
the ship in the first part of the essay: and should the wind come at 
S. W. she need not fear making a good stretch to the W.N. W. which 
course, if made good, is within a few degrees of going clear of all. 
There is, besides, King George the Third’s Sound, discovered by Cap- 
tain Vancouver, situate in the latitude of 35° 30’ south, and longitude 
118° 12’ east; andit is to be hoped, that a few years will disclose many 
others upon the coast, as well as the confirmation or futility of the 
conjecture that a still larger than Bass Strait dismembers New Hol- 
land.’—(p.192, 193.) 


We learn from a note subjoined to this passage, that, in 
order to verify or refute this conjecture, of the existence of 
other important inlets on the west coast of New Holland, 
Captain Flinders has sailed with two ships under his command, 
and is said to be accompanied by several professional men of 
considerable ability. 

Such are the most important contents of Mr. Collins's book, 
the style of which we very much approve, because it appears 
to be written by himself; and we must repeat again, that 
nothing can be more injurious to the opinion the public will 
form of the authenticity of a book of this kind, than the sus- 
picion that it has been tricked out and embellished by other 
hands. Such men, to be sure, have existed as Julius Cesar; 
but, in general, a correct and elegant style is hardly attainable 
by those who have passed their lives in action: and no one has 
such a pedantic love of good writing, as to prefer mendacious 
finery to rough and ungrammatical truth. ‘The events which 


AUSTRALIA. Ng 


Mr. Collins’s book records, we have read with great interest. 
There is a charm in thus seeing villages, and churches, and 
farms, rising from a wilderness, where civilized man has never 
set his foot since the creation of the world. The contrast be- 
tween fertility and barrenness, population and solitude, activity 
and indolence, fills the mind with the pleasing images of happi- 
ness and increase. Man seems to move in his proper sphere, 
while he is thus dedicating the powers of his mind and body 
to reap those rewards which the bountiful Author of all things 
has assigned to his industry. Neither is it any common en- 
joyment, to turn for a while from the memory of those distrac- 
tions which have so recently agitated the Old World, and to 
reflect that its very horrors and crimes may have thus prepared 
a long era of opulence and peace for a people yet involved in 
the womb of time. 


52 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


J. FIEVEE. (Eprnsures Review, 1809.) 
Lettres sur P Angleterre. Par J. Fievée. 1802. 


OF all the species of travels, that which has moral observation 
for its object is the most liable to error, and has the greatest 
difficulties to overcome, before it can arrive at excellence. 
Stones, and roots, and leaves, are subjects which may exercise 
the understanding without rousing the passions. A mineralo- 
gical traveller will hardly fall fouler upon the granite and the 
feldspar of other countries than his own; a botanist will not 
conceal its non-descripts ; and an agricultural tourist will faith- 
fully detail the average crop per acre; but the traveller who 
observes on the manners, habits, and institutions of other 
countries, must have emancipated his mind from the extensive 
and powerful dominion of association, must have extinguished 
the agreeable and deceitful feelings of national vanity, and 
cultivated that patient humility which builds general inferences 
only upon the repetition of individual facts. Every thing he 
sees shocks some passion or flatters it; and he is perpetually 
seduced to distort facts, so as to render them agreeable to his 
system and his feelings! Books of travels are now published 
in such vast abundance, that it may not be useless, perhaps, 
to state a few of the reasons why their value so commonly 
happens to be in the inverse ratio of their number. 

Ist, Travels are bad, from a want of opportunity for observ- 
ation in those who write them. If the sides of a building are 
to be measured, and the number of its windows to be counted, 
a very short space of time may suffice for these operations ; 
but to gain such a knowledge of their prevalent opinions and 
propensities, as will enable a stranger to comprehend (what is 
commonly called) the genius of people, requires a long resi- 
dence among them, a familiar acquaintance with their language, 
and an easy circulation among their various societies. The 
society into which a transient stranger gains the most easy 
access in any country, is not often that which ought to stamp 
the national character; and no criterion can be more fallible, 


J. FIEVEE. 53 


in a people so reserved and inaccessible as the British, who 
(even when they open their doors to letters of introduction) 
cannot for years overcome the awkward timidity of their nature. 
The same expressions are of so different a value in different 
countries, the same actions proceed from such different causes, 
and produce such different effects, that a judgment of foreign 
nations, founded on rapid observation, is almost certainly a 
mere tissue of ludicrous and disgraceful mistakes; and yet a 
residence of a month or two seems to entitle a traveller to 
present the world with a picture of manners in London, Paris, 
or Vienna, and even to dogmatize upon the political, religious, 
and legal institutions, as if it were one and the same thing to 
speak of abstract effects of such institutions, and of their effects 
combined with all the peculiar circumstances in which any 
nation may be placed. 

2dly, An affectation of quickness in observation, an intuitive 
glance that requires only a moment, and a part, to judge of a 
perpetuity, and a whole. ‘The late Mr. Petion, who was sent 
over into this country to acquire a knowledge of our criminal 
law, is said to have declared himself thoroughly informed upon 
the subject, after remaining precisely two and thirty minutes 
in the Old Bailey. 

3dly, ‘The tendency to found observation on asystem, rather 
than a system upon observation. ‘The fact is, there are very 
few original eyes and ears. ‘The great mass see and hear as 
they are directed by others, and bring back from a residence 
in foreign countries nothing but the vague and customary 
notions concerning it, which are carried and brought back for 
half a century, without verification or change. ‘The most 
ordinary shape in which this tendency to prejudge makes its 
appearance among travellers, is by a disposition to exalt, or, a 
still more absurd disposition, to depreciate their native country. 
They are incapable of considering a foreign people but under 
one single point of view—the relation in which they. stand to 
their own; and the whole narrative is frequently nothing more 
than a mere triumph of national vanity, or the ostentation of 
superiority to so common a failing. 

But we are wasting our time in giving a theory of the faults 
of travellers, when we have such ample means of exemplifying 
them all from the publication now before us, in which Mr. Jacob 
Fievée, with the most surprising talents for doing wrong, has 
contrived to condense and agglomerate every species of absurd- 


54 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ity that has hitherto been made known, and even to launch 
out occasionally into new regions of nonsense, with a boldness 
which well entitles him to the merit of originality in folly, and 
discovery in impertinence. We consider Mr. Fievée’s book as 
extremely valuable in one point of view. It affords a sort of 
limit or mind-mark, beyond which we conceive it to be impos- 
sible in future that pertness and petulance should pass. It is 
well to be acquainted with the boundaries of our nature on both 
sides; and to Mr. Fievée we are indebted for this valuable ap- 
proach to pessimism. The. height of knowledge no man has 
yet scanned; but we have now pretty well fathomed the gulf 
of ignorance. 

We must, however, do justice to Mr. Fievée when he 
deserves it. He evinces, in his preface, a lurking uneasiness 
at the apprehension of exciting war between the two countries, 
from the anger to which his letters will give birth in England. 
He pretends to deny that they will occasion a war; but it is 
very easy to see he is not convinced by his own arguments; 
and we confess ourselves extremely pleased by this amiable 
solicitude at the probable effusion of human blood. We hope 
Mr. Fievée is deceived by his philanthropy, and that no such 
unhappy consequences will ensue, as he really believes, though 
he affects to deny them. We dare to say the dignity of this 
country will be satisfied, if the publication in question is dis- 
owned by the French government, or, at most, if the author is 
given up. At all events, we have no scruple to say, that to 
sacrifice 20,000 lives, and a hundred millions of money to 
resent Mr. Fievée’s book, would be an unjustifiable waste of 
blood and treasure ; and that to take him off privately by assas- 
sination would be an undertaking hardly compatible with the 
dignity of a great empire. 

To show, however, the magnitude of the provocation, we 
shall specify a few of the charges which he makes against the 
English.— That they do not understand fireworks as well as 
the French; that they charge a shilling for admission to the 
exhibition; that they have the misfortune of being incommoded 
by a certain disgraceful privilege, called the liberty of the press; 
that the opera band plays out of tune; that the English are so 
fond of drinking, that they get drunk with a certain air called 
the gas of Paradise; that the privilege of electing members of 
Parliament is so burthensome, that cities sometimes petition to 
be exempted from it; that the great obstacle to a Parliamentary 


J. FIEVEE. 55 
\ 


reforh is the mob; that women sometimes have titles distinct 
from those of their husbands, although, in England, any body 
can SNi his wife at market, with a rope about her neck. ‘To 
these cOwplaints he adds—that the English are so far from 
enjoying tat equality of which their partisans boast, that none 
but the servants of the higher nobility can carry canes behind 
a carriage; Nat the power which the French kings had of 
e trial, is much the same thing as the English 
g after trial; that he should conceive it to be 
a good reason fon rejecting any measure in France, that it was 
imitated from the Wnglish, who have no family affections, and 
who love money So much, that their first question, in an 
inquiry concerning tlie character of any man, is, as to his degree 
of fortune. Lastly, Mr, Fievée alleges against the English, 

that they have great pleasure in contemplating the spectacle of 
men deprived of their reasom. And indeed we must have the 
candour to allow, that the hospitality which Mr. Fievée expe- 
rienced seems to afford some pretext for this assertion. 

One of the principal objects of Mr. Fievée’s book, is to 
combat the Anglomania, which has raged*so long among his 
countrymen, and which prevailed at Paris to such an excess, 
that even Mr. Neckar, a foreigner (incredible as it may seem) 
after having been twice minister of France, retained a con- 
siderable share of admiration for the English government. 
This is quite inexplicable. But this is nothing to the treason 
of the Eneyclopedists, who, instead of attributing the merit of 
the experimental philosophy and the reasoning by induction 
to a Frenchman, have shown themselves so lost to all sense of 
duty which they owed their country, that they have attributed 
it to an Englishman,* of the name of Bacon, and this for no 
better reason, than that he really was the author of it. ‘The 
whole of this passage is written so entirely in the genius of 
Mr. Fievée, and so completely exemplifies that very carica- 
ture species of Frenchmen from which our gross and popular 
notions of the whole people are taken, that we shall give the. 
whole passage at full length, cautiously abstaining from the 
sin of translating it. 







“Quand je reproche aux philosophes (avoir vanté l’Angleterre, par 
haine pour les institutions qui soutenoient la France, je ne hasarde 


* «Gaul was conquered by a person of the name of Julius Ceesar,’ 
is the first phrase in one of Mr. Newberry’s little books. 


56 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


rien, et je fournirai une nouvelle preuve de cette assertion, en citani 
les encyclopédistes, chefs avoués de la philosophie moderne. 

‘Comment nous ont-ils présenté l’Encyclopédie? Comme un monu- 
ment immortel, comme le dépét précieux de toutes les connosssances 
humaines. Sous quel patronage l’ont-ils élevé ce monument immor- 
tel? Est ce sous légide des écrivains dont la France s’horeroit ?. Non, 
ils ont choisi pour maitre et pour idole, un Anglais, Bacon; ils lui on 
fait dire tout ce qu’ils ont voulu, parce que cet auteur, ¢xtraordinaire- 
ment volumineux, n’étoit pas connu en France, et ne lest guére en 
Angleterre que de quelques hommes studieux; mais les philosophes 
sentoient que leur succés, pour introduire des noaveautés, tenoit a 
faire croire qu’elles n’étoient pas neuves pour les grands esprits; et 
comme les grands esprits Frangais, trop connus, ne ce prétoient pas 
a un pareil dessein, les philosophes ont eu recours a l’Angleterre. 
Ainsi, un ouvrage fait en France, et offert al’admiration de l'Europe 
comme l’ouvrage par excellence, fut mis par des Frangais sous la 
protection du génie Anglais. O honte! Et les philosophes se sont 
dit patriotes, et la France, peur prix de sa dégradation, leur a élevé 
des statues! la siécle qui commence, plus juste, parce qu'il ale 
sentiment de la véritable grandeur, laissera ces statues et l’Encyclo- 
pédie s’ensevelir sous la méme poussi€re.’ 


When to this are added the commendations that have been 
bestowed on Newton, the magnitude and the originality of the 
discoveries which have been attributed to him, the admiration 
which the words of Locke have excited, and the homage that 
has been paid to Milton and Shakspeare, the treason which 
lurks at the bottom of it all will not escape the penetrating 
glance of Mr. Fievée; and he will discern that same cause, 
from which every good Frenchman knows the defeat of Abou- 
kir and of the first of June to have proceeded—the monster 
Pitt, and his English guineas. 


EDGEWORTH ON BULLS. oF 


EDGEWORTH ON BULLS. (Epinsuren Review, 1803.) 


Essay on Irish Bulls. By Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and Maria Edge- 
worth. London, 1802. 


We hardly know what to say about this rambling, scrambling 
book; but that we are quite sure the author, when he began 
any sentence in it, had not the smallest suspicion of what it 
was about to contain. We say the author; because, in spite 
of the mixture of sexes in the title-page, we are strongly inclined 
to suspect that the male contributions exceed the female in a 
very great degree. ‘The Essay on Bulls is written much with 
the same mind, and in the same manner, as a schoolboy takes 
a walk: he moves on for ten yards on the straight road, with 
surprising perseverance; then sets out after a butterfly, looks 
for a bird’s nest, or jumps backwards and forwards over a ditch. 
In the same manner, this nimble and digressive gentleman is 
away afier every object which crosses his mind. If you leave 
him at the end of a comma, in a steady pursuit of his subject, 
you are sure to find him, before the next full stop, a hundred 
yards to the right or left, frisking, eapering, and grinning in a 
high paroxysm of merriment and agility. Mr. Edgeworth 
seems to possess the sentiments of an accomplished gentleman, 
the information of a scholar, and the vivacity of a first-rate 
harlequin. He is fuddled with animal spirits, giddy with con- 
Stitutional joy; in such a state he must have written on, or 
burst. A discharge of ink was an evacuation absolutely neces- 
sary, to avoid fatal and plethoric congestion. 

The object of the book is to prove, that the practice of mak- 
ing bulls is not more imputable to the Irish than to any other 
people; and the manner in which he sets about it, is to quote 
examples of bulls produced in other countries. But this is 
surely a singular way of reasoning the question: for there are 
goitres out of Valais, extortioners who do not worship Moses, 
oat cakes out of the Tweed, and balm beyond the precincts of 
Gilead. If nothing can be said to exist pre-eminently and 
emphatically in one country, which exists at all in another, 

VOL, I.—5 


58 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


then Frenchmen are not gay, nor Spaniards grave, nor are gen- 
tlemen of the Milesian race remarkable for their disinterested 
contempt of wealth in their connubial relations. It is probable 
there is some foundation for a character so generally diffused; 
though it is also probable that such foundation is extremely 
enlarged by fame. If there were no foundation for the com- 
mon opinion, we must suppose national characters formed by 
chance; and that the Irish might, by accident, have been 
laughed at as bashful and sheepish ; whichis impossible. ‘The 
author puzzles himself a good deal about the nature of bulls, 
without coming to any decision about the matter. Though the 
question is not a very easy one, we shall venture to say, that 
a bull is an apparent coneruity, and real incongruity, of ideas, 
suddenly discovered. And if this account of bulls be just, they 
are (as might have been supposed) the very reverse of wit; 
for as wit discovers real relations, that are not apparent, bulls 
admit apparent relations that are not real. ‘The pleasure aris- 
ing from wit proceeds from our surprise at suddenly disco-. 
vering two things to be similar, in which we suspected no 
similarity. ‘The pleasure arising from bulls proceeds from our 
discovering two things to be dissimilar, in which a resemblance 
might have been suspected. ‘The same doctrine will apply to 
wit, and to bulls in action. Practical wit discovers connection 
or relation between actions, in which duller understandings 
discover none; and practical bulls originate from an apparent 
relation between two actions, which more correct understand- 
ings immediately perceive to have no relation at all. 

Louis XIV. being extremely harassed by the repeated soli- 
citations of a veteran officer for promotion, said one day, loud 
enough to be heard, ‘’That gentleman is the most troublesome 
officer [ have in my service.’ ‘That is precisely the charge 
(said the old man) which your Majesty’s enemies bring against 
me.’ 


‘An English gentleman’, (says Mr. Edgeworth, in a story cited from 
Joe Millar,) ‘was writing a letter in a coffee-house; and perceiving that 
an Irishman stationed behind him was taking that liberty which Par- 
menio used with his friend Alexander, instead of putting his seal upon 
the lips of the curtous impertinent, the English gentleman thought 
proper to reprove the Hibernian, if not with delicacy, at least with 
poetical justice. He concluded writing his letter in these words: “I 
would say more, but a damned tall Irishman is reading over my 
shoulder every word I write.” 

‘“ You lie, you scoundrel,’ said the self-convicted Hibernian.’— 


(p. 29.) 


EDGEWORTH ON BULLS. 59 


The pleasure derived from the first of these stories, proceeds 
from the discovery of the relation that subsists between the 
object he had in view, and the assent of the officer to an ob- 
servation so unfriendly to that end. In the first rapid glance 
which the mind throws upon his words, he appears, by his 
acquiescence, to be pleading against himself. ‘There seems to 
be no relation between what he says, and what he wishes to 
effect by speaking. 

In the second story, the pleasure is directly the reverse. 
The lie given was apparently the readiest means of proving 
his innocence, and really the most effectual way of establishing 
his guilt. There seems for a moment to be a strong relation 
between the means and the object; while, in fact, no irrelation 
can be so complete. 

What connection is there between pelting stones at monkeys, 
and gathering cocoa-nuts from lofty trees? Apparently none. 
But monkeys sit upon cocoa-nut trees; monkeys are imitative 
animals; and if you pelt a monkey with a stone, he pelts you 
with a cocoa-nut in return. ‘T‘his scheme of gathering cocoa- 
nuts is very witty, and would be more so, if it did not appear 
useful: for the idea of utility is always inimical to the idea of 
wit.* ‘There appears, on the contrary, to be some relation 
between the revenge of the Irish rebels against a banker, and 
the means which they took to gratify it, by burning all his 
notes wherever they found them; whereas, they could not have 
rendered him a more essential service. In both these cases of 
bulls, the one verbal, the other practical, there is an apparent 
congruity, and real incongruity of ideas, In both the cases 
of wit, there is an apparent incongruity and a real relation. 


*Tt must be observed, that all the great passions, and many other 
feelings, extinguish the relish for wit. Thus /ympha pudica Deum vidit 
et erebwit, would be witty, were it not bordering on the sublime. The 
resemblance between the sandal tree imparting (while it falls) its aro- 
matic flavour to the edge of the axe, and the benevolent man rewarding 
evil with good, would be witty, did it not excite virtuous emotions. 
There are many mechanical contrivances which excite sensations 
very similar to wit; but the attention is absorbed by their utility. Some 
of Merlin’s machines, which have no utility at all, are quite similar to 
wit. A small model of a steam-engine, or mere squirt, is wit to a child. 
A man speculates on the causes of the first, or in its consequences, 
and so loses the feelings of wit: with the latter, he is too familiar to 
be surprised. In short, the essence of every species of wit is surprise; 
which wi termini, must be sudden; and the sensations which wit has a 
tendency to excite, are impaired or destroyed as often as they are 
mingled with much thought or passion. 


60 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


It is clear that a bull cannot depend upon mere incongruity 
alone; for if a man were to say that he would ride to London. 
upon acocked hat, or that he would cut his throat with a pound 
of pickled salmon, this, though completely incongruous, would 
not be to make bulls, but to talk nonsense. The stronger the 
apparent connection, and the more complete the real discon- 
nection of the ideas, the greater the surprise, and the better the 
bull. The less apparent, and the more complete the relations 
established by wit, the higher gratification does it afford. A 
great deal of the pleasure experienced from bulls, proceeds 
from the sense of superiority in ourselves. Bulls which we 
invented, or knew to be invented, might please, but in a less 
degree, for want of this additional zest. 

As there must be apparent connection, and real incongruity, 
it is seldom that a man of sense and education finds any form 
of words by which he is conscious that he might have been 
deceived into a bull. ‘To conceive how the person has been 
deceived, he must suppose a degree of information very dif- 
ferent from, and a species of character very heterogeneous to, 
his own; a process which diminishes surprise, and conse- 
quently pleasure. In the above-mentioned story of the Irish- 
man overlooking the man writing, no person of ordinary saga- 
city can suppose himself betrayed into such a mistake; but 
he can easily represent to himself a kind of character that 
might have been so betrayed. ‘There are some bulls so ex- 
tremely fallacious, that any.man may imagine himself to have 
been betrayed into them; but these are rare: and, in general, ' 
it is a poor contemptible species of amusement; a delight in 
which evinces a very bad taste in wit. 

Whether the Irish make more bulls than their neighbours, 
is, as we have before remarked, not a point of much import- 
ance; but itis of considerable importance, that the character 
of a nation should not be degraded; and Mr. Edgeworth has 
great merit in his very benevolent intention of doing justice to 
the excellent qualities of the Irish. Itis not possible to read 
his book, without feeling a strong and a new disposition in 
their favour. Whether the imitation of the Irish manner be 
accurate in his little stories we cannot determine; but we feel 
the same confidence in the accuracy of the imitation, that is 
often felt in the resemblance of a portrait, of which we have 
never seen the original. It is no very high compliment to 
Mr. Edgeworth’s creative powers, to say, he could not have 


EDGEWORTH ON BULLS. 61 


formed any thing, which was not real, so like reality; but such 
a remark only robs Peter to pay Paul; and gives every thing 
to his powers of observation, which it takes from those of his 
imagination. In truth, nothing can be better than his imitation 
of the Irish manner: It is first-rate painting. 

Edgeworth and Co. have another faculty in great perfection. 
They are eminently masters of the pathos. The Firm drew 
tears from us in the stories of little Dominick, and of the Irish 
beggar who killed his sweetheart: Never was any grief more 
natural or simple. ‘The first, however, ends in a very foolish 
way ; 





-formosa superne 
Desinit in piscem. 

We are extremely glad that our avocations did not call us 
from Bath to London on the day that the Bath coach conver- 
sation took place. We except from this wish the story with 
which the conversation terminates; for as soon as Mr. Edge- 
worth enters upon a story he excels. 

We must confess we have been much more pleased with 
Mr. Edgeworth in his laughing and in his pathetic, than in his 
grave andreasoning moods. He meant perhaps, that we should; 
and it certainly is not very necessary that a writer should be 
profound on the subject of bulls. Whatever be the deficiencies 
of the book, they are, in our estimation, amply atoned for by 
its merits; by none more than that lively feeling of compassion 
which pervades it for the distresses of the wild, kind-hearted, 
blundering poor of Ireland. 


62 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


TRIMMER AND LANCASTER.* (Enprysurcn Review, 1806.) 


A Comparative View of the New Plan of Education promulgated by Mr. 
Joseph Lancaster, in his Tracts concerning the Instruction of the Chil- 
dren of the Labouring Part of the Community; and of the System of 
Christian Education founded by our pious Forefathers for the Initi- 
ation of the Young Members of the Established Church in the Princi- 
ples of the Reformed Religion. By Mrs. Trimmer. 1805. 


Tuts is a book written by a lady who has gained considerable 
reputation at the corner of St. Paul’s Churchyard; who flames 
in the van of Mr. Newberry’s shop; and is, upon the whole, 
dearer to mothers and aunts than any other author who pours 
the milk of science into the mouths of babes and sucklings. 
Tired at last of scribbling for children, and getting ripe in am- 
bition, she has now written a book for grown-up people, and 
selected for her antagonist as stiff a controversialist as the 
whole field of dispute could well have supplied. Her oppo- 
nent is Mr. Lancaster, a Quaker, who has lately given to the 
world new and striking lights upon the subject of Education, 
and come forward to the notice of his country by spreading 
ee knowledge, and innocence among the lowest of man- 
ind. | 

Mr. Lancaster, she says, wants method in his book; and 
therefore her answer to him is without any arrangement. The 
same excuse must suffice for the desultory observations we 
shall make upon this lady’s publication. 

The first sensation of disgust we experienced at Mrs. 
Trimmer’s book, was from the patronizing and protecting air 
with which she speaks of some small part of Mr. Lancaster’s 
plan. She seems to suppose, because she has dedicated her 


* Lancaster invented the new method of education. The Church 
was sorely vexed at his success, endeavoured to set up Dr. Bell as the 
discoverer, and to run down poor Lancaster. George the Third was 
irritated by this shabby conduct, and always protected Lancaster. 
He was delighted with this Review, and made Sir Herbert Taylor read 
it a second time to him. 


TRIMMER AND LANCASTER. 63 


mind to the subject, that her opinion must necessarily be valu- 
able upon it; forgetting it to be barely possible, that her appli- 
cation may have made her more wrong, instead of more right. 
If she can make out her case, that Mr. Lancaster is doing 
mischief in so important a point as that of national education, 
she has aright, in common with every one else, to lay her 
complaint before the public; but a right to publish praises 
must be earned by something more difficult than the writing 
sixpenny books for children. This may be very good; though 
we never remember to have seen any one of them; but if they 
be no more remarkable for judgment and discretion than parts 
of the work before us, there are many thriving children quite 
capable of repaying the obligations they owe to their amiable 
instructress, and of teaching, with grateful retaliation, ‘the old 
idea how to shoot.’ 

In remarking upon the work before us, we shall exactly 
follow the plan of the authoress, and prefix, as she does, the 
titles of those subjects on which her observations are made; 
doing her the justice to presume, that her quotations are fairly 
taken from Mr. Lancaster’s book. 

1. Mr. Lancaster's Preface.—Mrs. Trimmer here contends, 
in opposition to Mr. Lancaster, that ever since the establish- 
ment of the Protestant Church, the education of the poor has 
been anational concern in this country; and the only argument 
she produces in support of this extravagant assertion, is an 
appeal to the act of uniformity. If there are millions of Eng- 
lishmen who cannot spell their own names, or read a sign-post 
which bids them turn to the right or left, is it any answer to 
this deplorable ignorance to say, there is an act of Parliament 
for public instruction?—to show the very line and chapter 
where the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assem- 
bled, ordained the universality of reading and writing, when, 
centuries afterwards, the ploughman is no more capable of the 
one or the other than the beast which he drives? In point of 
fact, there is no Protestant country in the world where the edu- 
cation of the poor has been so grossly and infamously neglected 
as in England. Mr. Lancaster has the very high merit of 
ealling the public attention to this evil, and of calling it in the 
best way, by new and active remedies; and this uncandid and 
feeble lady, instead of using the influence she has obtained 
over the anility of these realms, to join that useful remonstrance 
which Mr. Lancaster has begun, pretends to deny that the 


64 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


evil exists; and when you ask where are the schools, rods, 
pedagogues, primers, histories of Jack the Giant-killer, and all 
the usual apparatus for education, the only things he can pro- 
duce is the act of uniformity and common prayer. 

2. Lhe Principles on which Mr. Lancaster’s institution is 
conducted.—‘ Happily for mankind,’ says Mr. Lancaster, ‘ it 
is possible to combine precept and practice together in the 
education of youth: that public spirit, or general opinion, which 
gives such strength to vice, may be rendered serviceable to the 
cause of virtue; and in thus directing it, the whole secret, the 
beauty, and simplicity of national education consists. Suppose, 
for instance, it be required to train a youth to strict veracity. 
He has learnt to read at school: he there reads the declaration 
of the Divine will respecting liars: he is there informed of the 
pernicious effects that practice produces on society at large; 
and he is enjoined, for the fear of God, for the approbation of 
his friends, and for the good of his school-fellows, never to tell 
an untruth. This. is a most excellent precept; but let it be 
taught, and yet, if the contrary practice be treated with indif- 
ference by parents, teachers, or associates, it will either weaken 
or destroy all the good that can be derived from it: Butif the 
parents or teachers tenderly nip the rising shoots of vice; if 
the associates of youth pour contempt on the liar; he will soon 
hide his head with shame, and most likely leave off the practice.’ 
—(p. 24, 25.) 

The objection which Mrs. Trimmer makes to this passage, 
is, that it is exalting the fear of man above the fear of God. 
This observation is as mischievous as itis unfounded. Un- 
doubtedly the fear of God ought to be the paramount principle 
from the very beginning of life, if it were possible to make it 
so; but it is a feeling which can only be built up by degrees. 
The awe and respect which a child entertains for its parent 
and instructor, is the first scaffolding upon which the sacred 
edifice of religion is reared. A child begins to pray, to act, 
and to abstain, not to please God, but to please the parent, 
who tells him that such is the will of God. ‘The religious 
principle gains ground from the power of association and the 
improvement of reason; but without the fear of man,—the 
desire of pleasing, and the dread of offending those with whom 
he lives,—it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to 
cherish it at all in the minds of the children. If you tell (says 
Mr. Lancaster) a child not to swear, because it is forbidden by 


TRIMMER AND LANCASTER. 65 


God, and he finds every body whom he lives with addicted to 
that vice, the mere precept will soon be obliterated ; which 
would acquire its just influence if aided by the effect of exam- 
ple. Mr. Lancaster does not say that the fear of man ever 
ought to be a stronger motive than the fear of God, or that, 
in a thoroughly formed character, it ever 7s: he merely says, 
that the fear of man may be made the most powerful mean to 
raise up the fear of God; and nothing, in our opinion, can be 
more plain, more sensible, or better expressed, than his opin- 
ions upon these subjects. In corroboration of this sentiment, 
Mr. Lancaster tells the following story :— 


‘A benevolent friend of mine,’ says he, ‘who resides at a village 
near London, where he has a school of the class called Sunday Schools, 
recommended several lads to me for education. He is a pious man, 
and these children had the advantage of good precepts under his in- 
struction in an eminent degree, but had reduced them to very little 
practice. As they came to my school from some distance, they were 
permitted to bring their dinners; and, in the interval between morning 
and afternoon school hours, spent their time with a number of lads 
under similar circumstances in a play-ground adjoining the school- 
room. In this play-ground the boys usually enjoy an hour’s recre- 
ation; tops, balls, races, or what best suits their inclination or the 
season of the year; but with this charge, “ Let all be kept in innocence.” 
These lads thought themselves very happy at play with their new 
associates; but on a sudden they were seized and overcome by num- 
bers, were brought into school just as people in the street would seize 
a pick-pocket, and bring him to the police office. Happening at that 
time to be within, I inquired, “ Well, boys, what is all this bustle 
about ?”—* Why, sir,” was the general reply, “these lads have been 
swearing.” This was announced with as much emphasis and solem- 
nity as a judge would use in passing sentence upon a criminal. The 
culprits were, as may be supposed, in much terror. After the exami- 
nation of witnesses and proof of the facts, they received admonition 
as to the offence; and, on promise of better behaviour, were dismissed. 
No more was ever heard of their swearing; yet it was observable, 
that they were better acquainted with the theory of Christianity, and 
could give a more rational answer to questions from the scripture, than 
several of the boys who had thus treated them, on comparison as con- 
stables would do a thief. I call this,” adds Mr. Lancaster, ‘practical 
mi 36 instruction, and could, if needful, give many such anecdotes.’ 
—(p. 26, 27.) 


All that Mrs. Trimmer has to observe against this very 
striking illustration of Mr. Lancaster’s doctrine, is, that the 
monitors behaved to the swearers in a very rude and unchris- 
tianlike manner. She begins with being cruel, and ends with 
being silly. Her first observation is calculated to raise the 


66 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


posse comitatus against Mr. Lancaster, to get him stoned for 
impiety ; and then, when he produces the most forcible exam- 
ple of the effect of opinion to encourage religious precept, she 
says such a method of preventing swearing is too rude for the 
gospel. ‘True, modest, unobtrusive religion—charitable, for- 
giving, indulgent Christianity, is the greatest ornament and 
the greatest blessing that can dwell in the mind of man. But 
if there is one character more base, more infamous, and more 
shocking than another, itis him who, for the sake of some paltry - 
distinction in the world, is ever ready to accuse conspicuous per- 
sons of irreligion—to turn common informer for the churech— 
and to convert the most beautiful feelings of the human heart 
to the destruction of the good and great, by fixing upon talents 
the indelible stigma of irreligion. It matters not how trifling 
and how insignificant the accuser; cry out that the church is 
in danger, and your object is accomplished; lurk in the walk 
of hypocrisy, to accuse your enemy of the crime of Atheism, 
and his ruin is quite certain; acquitted or condemned, is the 
the same thing; itis only sufficient that he be accused, in order 
that his destruction be accomplished. If we could satisfy our- 
selves that such were the real views of Mrs. Trimmer, and 
that she were capable of such baseness, we would have drawn 
blood from her at every line, and left her in a state of martyr- 
dom more piteous than that of St. Uba. Let her attribute the 
milk and mildness she meets with in this review of her book, 
to the conviction we entertain, that she knew no better—that 
she really did understand Mr. Lancaster as she pretends to 
understand him—and that if she had been aware of the extent 
of the mischief she was doing, she would have tossed the manu- 
script spelling-book in which she was engaged into the fire, 
rather than have done it. As a proof that we are in earnest in 
speaking of Mrs. Trimmer’s simplicity, we must state the 
objection she makes to one of Mr. Lancaster’s punishments. 
‘When I meet,’ says Mr. Lancaster, ‘ with a slovenly boy, I 
put a label upon his breast, I walk him round the school with 
a tin or a paper crown upon his head.’ ‘Surely,’ says Mrs. 
Trimmer (in reply to this,) ‘surely it should be remembered, 
that the Saviour of the world was crowned with thorns, in 
derision, and that this is the reason why crowning is an im- 
proper punishment for a slovenly boy’!!! 

Rewards and Punishments.—Mrs. 'Trimmer objects to the 
fear of ridicule being made an instrument of education, because 


TRIMMER AND LANCASTER, 67 


it may be hereafter employed to shame a boy out of his reli- 
gion. She might, for the same reason, object to the cultivation 
of the reasoning faculty, because a boy may hereafter be rea- 
soned out of his religion: she surely does not mean to say that 
she would make boys insensible to ridicule, the fear of which 
is one curb upon the follies and eccentricities of human nature. 
Such an object it would be impossible to effect, even if it were 
useful: Put an hundred boys together, and the fear of being 
laughed at will always be a strong influencing motive with 
every individual among them. Ifa master can turn this prin- 
ciple to his own use, and get boys to laugh at vice, instead of 
the old plan of laughing at virtue, is he not doing a very new, 
a very difficult, and a very laudable thing? 

When Mr. Lancaster finds a little boy with a very dirty 
face, he sends for a little girl, and makes her wash off the dirt 
before the whole school: and she is directed to accompany her 
ablutions with a gentle box of the ear. ‘To us, this punish- 
ment appears well adapted to the offence; and in this, and in 
most other instances of Mr. Lancaster’s interference in scho- 
lastic discipline, we are struck with his good sense, and de- 
lighted that arrangements apparently so trivial, really so impor- 
tant, should have fallen under the attention of so ingenious and 
so original aman. Mrs. ‘Trimmer objects to this practice, that 
it destroys female modesty, and inculeates in that sex, an habit 
of giving boxes on the ear. 


‘When a boy gets into a singing tone in reading,’ says Mr. Lan- 
caster, ‘the best mode of cure that I have hitherto found effectual is 
by the force of ridicule.-—Decorate the offender with matches, ballads, 
(dying speeches if needful;) and in this garb send him round the 
school, with some boys before him crying matches, &c., exactly imitat- 
ing the dismal tones with which such things are hawked about Lon- 
don streets, as will readily recur to the reader’s memory. I believe 
many boys behave rudely to Jews more on account of the manner in 
which they cry “old clothes,” than because they are Jews. I have 
always found excellent effects from treating boys, who sing or tone 
in their reading, in the manner described. It is sure to turn the laugh 
of the whole school upon the delinquent; it provokes risibility, in spite 
of every endeavour to check it, in all but the offender. Ihave seldom 
known a boy thus punished once, for whom it was needful a second 
time. It is also very seldom that a boy deserves both a log anda 
shackle at the same time. Most boys are wise enough, when under 
one punishment, not to transgress immediately, lest it should be dou- 
bled.’—(p. 47, 48.) 


This punishment is objected to on the part of Mrs. Trim- 


68 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


mer, because it inculcates a dislike to Jews, and an indiffer- 
ence about dying speeches! ‘Toys, she says, given as rewards, 
are worldly things; children are to be taught that there are 
eternal rewards in store for them. It is very dangerous to give 
prints as rewards, because prints may hereafter be the vehicle 
of indecent ideas. It is, above all things, perilous to create an 
order of merit in the borough school, because it gives the boys 
an idea of the origin of nobility, ‘ especially in times (we use 
Mrs. Trimmer’s own words) which furnish instances of the 
extinction of a race of ancient nobility, in a neighbouring 
nation, and the elevation of some of the lowest people to the 
highest stations. Boys accustomed to consider themselves 
the nobles of the school, may, in their future lives, form a 
conceit of their own merits (unless they have very sound 
principles), aspire to be nobles of the land, and to take place 
of the hereditary nobility.’ 

We think these extracts will sufficiently satisfy every reader 
of common sense, of the merits of this publication. For our 
part, when we saw these ragged and interesting little nobles, 
shining in their tin stars, we only thought it probable that the 
spirit of emulation would make them better ushers, tradesmen, 
and mechanics. We did, in truth, imagine we had observed, 
in some of their faces, a bold project for procuring better 
breeches for keeping out the blast of heaven, which howled 
through those garments in every direction, and of aspiring 
hereafter to greater strength of seam, and more perfect conti- 
nuity of cloth. But for the safety of the titled orders we had 
no fear; nor did we once dream that the black rod which whipt 
these dirty little dukes, would one day be borne before them 
as the emblem of legislative dignity, and the sign of noble 
blood. 

Order.—The order Mr. Lancaster has displayed in the 
school is quite astonishing. Every boy seems to be the cog 
of a wheel—the whole school a perfect machine. ‘This is so 
far from being a burden or constraint to the boys, that Mr. 
Lancaster has made it quite pleasant and interesting to them, 
by giving to it the air of military arrangement; not foreseeing, 
as Mrs. Trimmer foresees, that, in times of public dangers, 
this plan furnishes the disaffected with the immediate means 
of raising an army; for what have they to do but to send for 
all the children educated by Mr. Lancaster, from the different 
corners of the kingdom into which they are dispersed,—to beg 
it as a particular favour of them to fall into the same order as 


TRIMMER AND LANCASTER. 69 


they adopted in the spelling class twenty-five years ago; and 
the rest is all matter of course— 


Jamque faces, et Saxa volant. 


The main object, however, for which this book is written, 
is to prove that the church establishment is in danger, from the 
increase of Mr. Lancaster’s institutions. Mr. Lancaster is, as 
we have before observed, a Quaker. As a Quaker, he says, I 
cannot teach your creeds; but I pledge myself not to teach my 
own. I pledge myself (and if I deceive you, desert me, and 
give me up) to confine myself to those points of Christianity 
in which all Christians agree. ‘To which Mrs. Trimmer re- 
plies, that, in the first place, he cannot do this; and, in the next 
place, if he did do it, it would not be enough. But why, we 
would ask, cannot Mr. Lancaster effect his first object? The 
practical and the feeling parts of religion are much more likely 
to attract the attention and provoke the questions of children, 
than its speculative doctrines. A child is not very likely to 
put any questions at all to a catechising master, and still less 
likely to lead him into subtle and profound disquisition. It ap- 
pears to us not only practicable, but very easy, to confine the 
religious instruction of the poor, in the first years of life, to 
those general feelings and principles which are suitable to the 
established church, and to every sect; afterwards, the discrimi- 
nating tenets of each subdivision of Christians may be fixed 
upon this general basis. ‘I'o say this is not enough, that a 
child should be made an Antisocinian, or an Antipelagian, in 
his tenderest years, may be very just; but what prevents you 
from making him so! Mr. Lancaster, purposely and intention- 
ally, to allay all jealousy, leaves him in a state as well adapted 
for one creed as another. Begin; make your pupil a firm ad- 
vocate for the peculiar doctrines of the English church; dig 
round about him, on every side, a trench that shall guard him 
from every species of heresy. In spite of all this clamour you 
do nothing; you do not stir a single step; you educate alike 
the swineherd and his hog ;—and then, when a man of real 
genius and enterprise rises up, and says, Let me dedicate my 
life:to this neglected object; I will do every thing but that 
which must necessarily devolve upon you alone ;—you refuse 
to do your little, and compel him, by the cry of Infidel and 
Atheist, to leave you to your ancient repose, and not to drive 
you, by insidious comparisons, to any system of active utility. 


70 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


We deny, again and again, that Mr. Lancaster’s instruction is 
any kind of impediment to the propagation of the doctrines 
of the church; and if Mr. Lancaster was to perish with his 
system to-morrow, these boys would positively be taught no- 
thing; the doctrines which Mrs. Trimmer considers to be 
prohibited would not rush in, but there would be an absolute 
vacuum. We will however, say this in favour of Mrs. Trimmer, 
that if every one who has joined in her clamour, had laboured 
one-hundredth part as much as she has done in the cause of 
national education, the clamour would be much more rational, 
and much more consistent, than it now is. By living with a 
few people as active as herself, she is perhaps somehow or 
another persuaded that there is a national education going on 
in this country. But our principal argument is, that Mr. 
Lancaster’s plan is at least better than the nothing which pre- 
ceded it. ‘The authoress herself seems to be a lady of respect- 
able opinions, and very ordinary talents; defending what is 
right without judgment, and believing what is holy without 
charity. 


PARNELL AND IRELAND. 71 


PARNELL AND IRELAND. (Epinsuneu Review, 1807.) 


Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics. By William Parnell, Esquire. 
Fitzpatrick, Dublin, 1807. 


If ever a nation exhibited symptoms of downright madness, 
or utter stupidity, we conceive these symptoms may be easily 
recognized in the conduct of this country upon the Catholic 
question. A man has a wound in his great toe, and a violent 
and perilous fever at the same time; and he refuses to take 
the medicines for the fever, because it will disconcert his toe! 
The mournful and folly-stricken blockhead forgets that his toe 
cannot survive him ;—that if he dies, there can be no digital 
life apart from him; yet he lingers and fondles over this last 
part of his body, soothing it madly with little plasters, and 
anile fomentations, while the neglected fever rages in his en- 
trails, and burns away his whole life. If the comparatively 
little questions of Establishment are all that this country is 
capable of discussing or regarding, for God’s sake let us re- 
member, that the foreign conquest, which destroys all, destroys 
this beloved foe also. Pass over freedom, industry, and science 
—and look upon this great empire, by which we are about to 
be swallowed up, only as it affects the manner of collecting 
tithes, and of reading the liturgy—still, if all goes, these must 
go too; and even, for their interests, it is worth while to con- 
ciliate Ireland, to avert the hostility, and to employ the strength 
of the Catholic population. We plead the question as the sin- 
cerest friends to the Establishment ;—as wishing to it all the 
prosperity and duration its warmest advocates can desire,— 
but remembering always, what these advocates seem to forget, 


*I do not retract one syllable (or one iota) of what I have said or 
written upon the Catholic question. What was wanted for Ireland 
Was emancipation, time and justice, abolition of present wrongs; time 
for forgetting past wrongs, and that continued and even justice which 
would make such oblivion wise. It is now only difficult to tranquilize 
Ireland, before emancipation it was impossible. As to the danger 
from Catholic doctrines, I must leave such apprehensions to the re- 
spectable anility of these realms. I will not meddle with it. 


72 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


that the Establishment cannot be threatened by any danger so 
great as the perdition of the kingdom in which it is established. 

We are truly glad to agree so entirely with Mr. Parnell 
upon this great question; we admire his way of thinking; and 
most cordially recommend his work to the attention of the 
public. ‘The general conclusion which he attempts to prove 
is this ;—that religious sentiment, however perverted to bigot- 
ry or fanaticism, has always a tendency to moderation; that 
it seldom assumes any great portion of activity or enthusiasm, 
except from novelty of opinion, or from opposition, contumely 
and persecution, when novelty ceases;. that a government has 
little to fear from any religious sect, except while that sect is 
new. Give-a government only time, and, provided it has the 
good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it must ultimately 
prevail. When, therefore, a sect is found, after a lapse of 
years, to be ill disposed to the government, we may be certain 
that government has widened its separation by marked distinc- 
tions, roused its resentment by contumely, or supported its en- 
thusiasm by persecution. 

The particular conclusion Mr. Parnell attempts to prove is, 
that the Catholic religion in Ireland had sunk into torpor and 
inactivity, till government roused it with the lash: that even 
then, from the respect and attachment, which men are always 
inclined to show towards government, there still remained a 
large body of loyal Catholics; that these only decreased in 
number from the rapid increase of persecution ; and that, after 
all, the effects which the resentment of the Roman Catholics 
had in creating rebellions had been very much exaggerated. 

In support of these two conclusions, Mr. Parnell takes a 
survey of the history of Ireland, from the conquest under 
Henry, to the rebellion under Charles the First, passing very 
rapidly over the period which preceded the Reformation, and 
dwelling principally upon the various rebellions which broke 
out in Ireland between the Reformation and the grand rebellion 
in the reign of Charles the First. The celebrated conquest of 
Ireland by Henry the Second, extended only to a very few 
counties in Leinster; nine-tenths of the whole kingdom were 
left, as he found them, under the dominion of their native 
princes. The influence of example was as strong in this, as in 
most other instances; and great numbers of the English settlers 
who came over under various adventurers, resigned their pre- 
tensions to superior civilization, cast off their lower garments, 
and lapsed into the nudity and barbarism of the Irish. The 


PARNELL AND IRELAND. ge 


limit which divided the possessions of the English settler from 
those of the native Irish, was called the pale; and the expres- 
sions of inhabitants within pale, and without the pale, were 
the terms by which the two nations were distinguished. It is 
almost superfluous to state, that the most bloody and pernicious 
warfare was carried on upon the borders—sometimes for some- 
thing—sometimes for nothing—most commonly for cows. ‘The 
Irish, over whom the sovereigns of England affected a sort of 
nominal dominion, were entirely governed by their own laws; 
and so very little connection had they with the justice of the in- 
vading country, that it was as lawful to kill an Irishman, as it 
was to kill a badger or afox. The instances are innumerable, 
where the defendant has pleaded that the deceased was an Irish- 
man, and that therefore defendant had a right to kill him ;— 
and upon the proof of Hibernicism, acquittal followed of course. 

When the English army mustered in any great strength, 
the Irish chieftains would do exterior homage to the English 
Crown; and they very frequently, by this artifice, averted from 
their country the miseries of invasion: but they remained com- 
pletely unsubdued, till the rebellion which took place in the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth, of which that politic woman availed 
herself to the complete subjugation of Ireland. In speaking of 
the Irish about the reign of Elizabeth, or James the First, we 
must not draw our comparisons from England, but from New 
Zealand ; they were not civilized men, but savages ; and if we 
reason about their conduct, we must reason of them as savages. 


‘After reading every account of Irish history,’ (says Mr. Parnell,) 
‘one great perplexity appears to remain: How does it happen, that, 
from the first invasion of the English, till the reign of James L, Ireland 
seems not to have made the smallest progress in civilization or wealth? 

‘That it was divided into a number of small principalities, which 
waged constant war on each other; or that the appointment of the 
chieftains was elective; do not appear sufficient reasons, although 
these are the only ones assigned by those who have been at the trou- 
ble of considering the subject: neither are the confiscations of pro- 
perty quite sufficient to account for the effect. There have been great 
confiscations in other countries, and still they have flourished: the 
petty states of Greece were quite analogous to the chiefries (as they 
were called) in Ireland; and yet they seemed to flourish almost in 
proportion to their dissensions. Poland felt the bad effects of an elec- 
tive monarchy more than any other country; and yet, in point of civi- 
lization, it maintained a very respectable rank among the nations of 
Europe; but Ireland never, for an instant, made any progress in im- 
provement till the reign of James I. 

VOL. I.—6 


74 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘It is scarcely credible, that in a climate like that of Ireland, and at 
a period so far advanced in civilization as the end of Elizabeth’s reign, 
the greater part of the natives should go naked. Yet this is rendered 
certain by the testimony of an eye witness, Fynes Moryson. “In the 
remote parts,” he says, “where the English laws and manners are 
unknown, the very chief of the Irish, as well men as women, go naked 
in the winter time, only having their privy parts covered with a rag 
of linen, and their bodies with a loose mantle. ThisI speak of my 
own experience; yet remember that a Bohemian Baron coming out 
of Scotland to us by the north parts of the wild Irish, told me in great 
earnestness, that he, coming to the house of O’Kane, a great lord 
amongst them, was metat the door by sixteen women all naked, except- 
ing their loose mantles, whereof eight or ten were very fair; with 
which strange sight his eyes being dazzled, they led him into the house, 
and then sitting down by the fire with crossed legs, like tailors, and so 
low as could not but offend chaste eyes, desired him to sit down with 
them. Soon after, O’Kane, the lord of the country, came in all naked, 
except a loose mantle and shoes, which he put off as soon as he came 
in; and, entertaining the Baron after his best manner in the Latin 
tongue, desired him to put off his apparel, which he thought to be a 
burden to him, and to sit naked. 

“«<To conclude, men and women at night going to sleep, lye thus 
naked in around circle about the fire, with their feet towards it. They 
fold their heads and their upper parts in woollen mantles, first steeped 
in water to keep them warm; for they say, that woollen cloth, wetted, 
preserves heat (as linen, wetted, preserves cold,) when the smoke of 
their bodies has warmed the woollen cloth.” 

‘The cause of this extreme poverty, and of its long continuance, we 
must conclude, arose from the peculiar laws of property, which were 
in force under the Irish dynasties. These laws have been described 
by most writers as similar to the Kentish custom of gavelkind; and 
indeed so little attention was paid to the subject, that were it not for 
the researches of Sir J. Davis, the knowledge of this singular usage 
would have been entirely lost. 

‘The Brehon law of property, he tells us, was similar to the custom 
(as the English lawyers term it) of hodge-podge. When any one of 
the sept died, his lands did not descend to his sons, but were divided 
among the whole sept: and, for this purpose, the chief of the sept made 
a new division of the whole lands belonging to the sept, and gave every 
one his part according to seniority. So that no man had a property 
which could descend to his children; and even during his own life, 
his possession of any particular spot was quite uncertain, being liable 
to be constantly shuffled and changed by new partitions. The conse- 
quence of this was that there was nota house of brick or stone, among 
the Irish, down to the reign of Henry VII.; not even a garden or orch- 
ard, or well fenced or improved field, neither village or town, or in any 
respect the least provision for posterity. This monstrous custom, so 
opposite to the natural feelings of mankind, was probably perpetuated 
by the policy of the chiefs. In the first place, the power of partition- 
ing being lodged in their hands, made them the most absolute of ty- 


PARNELL AND IRELAND. 75 


rants, being the dispensers of the property as well as of the liberty of 
their subjects. In the second place, it had the appearance of adding 
to the number of their savage armies; for, where there was no improve- 
ment or tillage, war was pursued as an occupation. 

‘In the early history of Ireland, we find several instances of chief- 
tains discountenancing tillage; and so late as Elizabeth’s reign, Mo- 
ryson says, that “Sir Neal Garve restrained his people from ploughing, 
that theymight assist him to do any mischief.” ’—(p. 98—102.) 

These quotations and observations will enable us to state a 
few plain facts for the recollection of our English readers. 1st, 
Ireland was never subdued till the rebellion in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth. 2d, for four hundred years before that 
period, the two nations had been almost constantly at war; and 
in consequence of this, a deep and irreconcileable hatred existed 
between the people within and without the pale. 3d, The 
Irish, at the accession of Queen Elizabeth, were unquestion- 
ably the most barbarous people in Europe. So much for what 
had happened previous to the reign of Queen Elizabeth: and 
let any man, who has the most superficial knowledge of human 
affairs, determine, whether national hatred, proceeding from 
such powerful causes, could possibly have been kept under by 
the defeat of one single rebellion ; whether it would not have 
been easy to have foreseen, at that period, that a proud, brave, 
half-savage people, would cherish the memory of their wrongs 
for centuries to come, and break forth into arms at every period 
when they were particularly exasperated by oppression, or 
invited by opportunity. If the Protestant religion had spread 
"in Ireland as it did in England, and if there never had been any 
difference of faith between the two countries,—can it be be- 
lieved that the Irish, ill-treated, and infamously governed as 
they have been, would never have made any efforts to shake 
off the yoke of England? Surely there are causes enough to 
account for their impatience of that yoke, without endeavouring 
to inflame the zeal of ignorant people against the Catholic re- 
ligion, and to make that mode of faith responsible for all the 
butchery which the Irish and English, for these last two centu- 
ries, have exercised upon each other. Every body, of course, 
must admit, that if to the causes of hatred already specified, there 
be added the additional cause of religious distinction, this last 
will give greater force (and what is of more consequence to ob- 
serve, give a name) to the whole aggregate motive. But what 
Mr. Parnell contends for, and clearly and decisively proves, 
is, that many of those sanguinary scenes attributed to the Catho- 


76 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


lic religoin, are to be partly imputed to causes totally discon- 
nected from religion; that the unjust invasion, and the tyran- 
nical, infamous policy of the English, are to take their, full share 
of blame with the sophisms and plots of Catholic priests. In 
the reign of Henry the Eighth, Mr. Parnell shows, that feudal 
submission was readily paid to him by all the Irish chiefs; that 
the Reformation was received without the slightest opposition ; 
and that the troubles which took place at that period in Ireland, 
are to be entirely attributed to the ambition and injustice of 
Henry. In the reign of Queen Mary, there was no recrimi- 
nation upon the Protestants ;—a striking proof, that the bigotry 
of the Catholic religion had not, at that period, risen to any 
great height in Ireland. ‘The insurrections of the various Irish 
princes were as numerous, during this reign, as they had been 
in the two preceding reigns,—a circumstance rather difficult 
of explanation, if, as is commonly believed, the Catholic reli- 
gion was at that period the main spring of men’s actions. 

In the reign of Elizabeth, the Catholic in the pale regularly 
fought against the Catholic out of the pale. O’Sullivan, a 
bigoted Papist, reproaches them with doing so. Speaking of 
the reign of James the First, he says, ‘And now the eyes even 
of the English Irish’ (the Catholics of the pale) ‘ were opened; 
and they cursed their former folly for helping the heretic.’ 
The English government were so sensible of the loyalty of 
the Irish English Catholics, that they entrusted them with the 
most confidential services. ‘The Earl of Kildare was the prin- 
cipal instrument in waging war against the chieftains of Leix 
and Offal. William O’Bourge, another Catholic, was created 
Lord Castle Connel for his eminent services; and MacGully 
Patrick, a priest, was the state spy. We presume that this 
wise and manly conduct of Queen Elizabeth was utterly un- 
known both to the Pastrycook and the Secretary of State, who 
have published upon the dangers of employing Catholics even 
against foreign enemies; and in those publications have said a 
great deal about the wisdom of our ancestors—the usual topic 
whenever the folly of their descendants is to bedefended. ‘To 
whatever other of our ancestors they may allude, they may 
spare all compliments to this illustrious Princess, who would 
certainly have kept the worthy confectioner to the composition 
of tarts, and most probably furnished him with the productions 
of the Right Honourable Secretary, as the means of conveying 
those juicy delicacies to an hungry and discerning public. 


PARNELL AND IRELAND. yi 


In the next two reigns, Mr. Parnell shows by what inju- 
dicious measures of the English government the spirit of Ca- 
tholic opposition was gradually formed; for that it did produce 
powerful effects at a subsequent period, he does not deny; but 
contends only (as we have before stated), that these effects 
have been much overrated, and ascribed solely to the Catholic 
religion, when other causes have at least had an equal agency 
in bringing them about. He concludes with some general re- 
marks on the dreadful state of Ireland, and the contemptible 
folly and bigotry of the English;*—-remarks full of truth, of 
good sense, and of political courage. How melancholy to re- 
flect, that there would be still some chance of saving England 
from the general wreck of empires, but that it may not be saved, 
because one politician will lose two thousand a year by it, and 
another three thousand—a third a place in reversion, and a 
fourth a pension for his aunt!—Alas! these are the powerful 
causes which have always settled the destiny of great king- 
doms, and which may level Old England, with all its boasted 
freedom, and boasted wisdom, to the dust. Nor is it the least 
singular among the political phenomena of the present day, 
that the sole consideration which seems to influence the un-. 
bigoted part of the English people, in this great question of 
Ireland, is a regard for the personal feelings of the Monarch. 
Nothing is said or thought of the enormous risk to which Ire- 
land is exposed,—nothing of the gross injustice with which 
the Catholics are treated,—nothing of the lucrative apostasy 
of those from whom they experience this treatment: but the 
only concern by which we all seem to be agitated is, that the 
King must not be vexed in his old age. We have a great 
respect for the King; and wish him all the happiness com- 
patible with the happiness of his people. But these are not 
times to pay foolish compliments to Kings, or the sons of 
Kings, or to any body else: this journal has always preserved 
its character for courage and honesty ; and it shall do so to the 
last. Ifthe people of this country are solely occupied in con- 
sidering what is personally agreeable to the King, without con- 
sidering what is for his permanent good, and for the safety of 
his dominions ; if all public men, quitting the common vulgar 
scramble for emolument, do not concur in conciliating the 


* It would be as well, in future, to say no more of the revocation of 
the edict of Nantz. 


78 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


people of Ireland; if the unfounded alarms, and the compara- 
tively trifling interests of the clergy, are to supersede the great 
question of freedom or slavery, it does appear to us quite im- 
possible that so mean and so foolish a people can escape that 
‘destruction which is ready to burst upon them ;—a destruction 
so imminent, that it can only be averted by arming all in our 
defence who would evidently be sharers in our ruin,—and by 
such a change of system as may save us from the hazard of 
being ruined by the ignorance and cowardice of any general, 
by the bigotry or the ambition of any minister, or by the well- 
meaning scruples of any human being, let his dignity be what 
it may. ‘These minor and domestic dangers we must endea- 
vour firmly and temperately to avert as we best can; but, at 
all hazards, we must keep out the destroyer from among us, 
or perish like wise and brave men in the attempt. 


METHODISM. 79 


METHODISM. (Eprxysurea Review, 1808.) 


Causes of the Increase of Methodism and Dissension. By Robert Acklem 
Ingram, B. D. Hatchard. 


Tus is the production of an honest man, possessed of a fair 
share of understanding. He cries out lustily (and not before 
it is time), upon the increase of Methodism ; proposes various 
remedies for the diminution of this evil; and speaks his opi- 
nions with a freedom which does him great credit, and con- 
vinces us that he is a respectable man. ‘The clergy are 
accused of not exerting themselves. What temporal motive, 
Mr. Ingram asks, have they for exertion? Would a curate, 
who had served thirty years upon a living in the most exem- — 
plary manner, secure to himself, by such a conduct, the slight- 
est right or title to promotion in the church?! What can you 
expect of a whole profession, in which there is no more con- 
nection between merit and reward, than between merit and 
beauty, or merit and strength? ‘This is the substance of what 
Mr. Ingram says upon this subject; and he speaks the truth. 
We regret, however, that “this gentleman has thought fit to use 
against the dissenters, the exploded clamour of Jacobinism ; or 
that he deems it necessary to call into the aid of the Church, 
the power of intolerant laws, in spite of the odious and impo- 
litic tests to which the dissenters are still subjected. We be- 
lieve them to be very good subjects; and we have no doubt 
but that any further-attempt upon their religious liberties, 
without reconciling them to the Church, would have a direct 
tendency to render them disaffected to the State. 

Mr. Ingram (whose book, by the by, is very dull and tedi- 
ous) has fallen into the common mistake of supposing his 
readers to be as well acquainted with his subject as he is him- 
self; and has talked a great deal about dissenters, without 
giving us any distinct notions of the spirit which pervades 
these people—the objects they have in view—or the degree of 
talent which is to be found among them. ‘To remedy this 
very capital defect, we shall endeavour to set before the eyes 


80 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


of the reader a complete section of the tabernacle ; and to pre- 
sent him with a near view of those sectaries, who are at pre- 
sent at work upon the destruction of the orthodox churches, 
and are destined hereafter, perhaps, to act as conspicuous a 
part in public affairs, as the children of Sion did in the time of 
Cromwell. 

The sources from which we shall derive our extracts, are 
the Evangelical and Methodistical Magazines for the year 
1807;—works which are said to be circulated to the amount 
of 18,000 or 20,000 each, every month; and which contain 
the sentiments of Arminian and Calvinistic Methodists, and of 
the evangelical clergymen of the Church of England. We 
shall use the general term of Methodism, to designate these 
three classes of fanatics, not troubling ourselves to point out 
the finer shades, and nicer discriminations of lunacy, but treat- 
ing them all as in one general conspiracy against common senees 
and rational orthodox Christianity. 

In reading these very curious productions, we seemed to be 
in a new world, and to have got among a set of beings, of 
whose existence we had hardly before entertained the slightest 
conception. Ithas been our good fortune to be acquainted with 
many truly religious persons, both in the Presbyterian and 
Episcopalian churches; and from their manly, rational, and 
serious characters, our conceptions of true practical piety have 
been formed. ‘To these confined habits, and to our want of 
proper introductions among the children of light and grace, 
any degree of surprise is to be attributed, which may be excited 
by the publications before us; which, under opposite circum- 
stances, would (we doubt not) have proved as great a source 
of instruction and delight to the Edinburgh reviewers, as they 
are to the most melodious votaries of the tabernacle. 

It is not wantonly, or with the most distant intention of 
trifling upon serious subjects, that we call the attention of the 
public to these sort of publications. ‘Their circulation is so 
enormous, and so increasing,—they contain the opinions, and 
display the habits of so many human beings,—that they can- 
not but be objects of curiosity and importance. ‘The common 
and the middling classes of people are the purchasers; and 
the subject is religion,—though not that religion certainly 
which is established by law, and encouraged by national pro- 
vision. ‘This may lead to unpleasant consequences, or it may 


METHODISM. 81 


not; but it carries with it a sort of aspect, which ought to in- 
sure to it serious attention and reflection. 

It is impossible to arrive at any knowledge of a religious 
sect, by merely detailing the settled articles of their belief: it 
may be the fashion of such a sect to insist upon some articles 
very slightly; to bring forward others prominently; and to 
consider some portion of their formal creed as obsolete. As 
the knowledge of the jurisprudence of any country can never 
be obtained by the perusal of volumes which contain some 
statutes that are daily enforced, and others that have been 
silently antiquated: in the same manner, the practice, the 
preaching, and the writing of sects, are comments absolutely 
necessary to render the perusal of.their creed of any degree of 
utility. 

It is the practice, we believe, with the orthodox, both in the 
Scotch and English churches, to insist very rarely, and very 
discreetly, upon the particular instances of the interference of 
Divine Providence. They do not contend that the world is 
governed only by general laws,—that a Superintending Mind 
never interferes for particular purposes ; but such purposes are 
represented to be of a nature very awful and sublime,—when 
a guilty people are to be destroyed, when an oppressed nation 
is to be lifted up, and some remarkable change introduced into 
the order and arrangement of the world. With this kind of 
theology we can have no quarrel; we bow to its truth; we are 
satisfied with the moderation which it exhibits; and we have 
no doubt of the salutary effect which it produces upon the 
human heart. Let us now come to those special cases of the 
interference of Providence as they are exhibited in the publi- 
cations before us. 


An interference with respect to the Rev. James Moody. 


‘Mr. James Moody was descended from pious ancestors, who resided 
at Paisley ;—his heart was devoted to music, dancing, and theatrical 
amusements; of the latter he was so fond, that he used to meet with 
some men of a similar cast to rehearse plays, and used to entertain 
a hope that he should make a figure upon the stage. ‘T'o improve 
himself in music, he would rise very early, even in severely cold 
weather, and practice on the German flute: by his skill in music and 
singing, with his general powers of entertaining, he became a desirable 
companion: he would sometimes venture to profane the day of God, 
by turning it into a season of carnal pleasure: and would join in ex- 
cursions on the water, to various parts of the vicinity of London. But 
the time was approaching, when the Lord, who had designs of mercy for 


82 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITI. 


him, and for many others by his means, was about to stop him in his vam 
career of sin and folly. There were two professing servants in the 
house where he lived; one of these was a porter, who, in brushing his 
clothes, would say, “ Master James, this will never do—you must be 
otherwise employed—you must be a minister of the gospel.” This 
worthy man, earnestly wishing his conversion, put into his hands that 
excellent book which God hath so much owned, Allein’s Alarm to the 
Unconverted. 

‘About this time, it pleased God to visit him with a disorder in his 
eyes, occasioned as it was thought, by his sitting up in the night to 
improve himself in drawing. The apprehension of losing his sight 
occasioned many serious reflections; his mind was impressed with 
the importance and necessity of seeking the salvation of his soul, and 
he was induced to attend the preaching of the gospel. The first ser- 
mon that he heard with a desire to profit, was at Spa-fields Chapel; 
a place where he had formerly frequented, when it was a temple of 
vanity and dissipation. Strong convictions of sin fixed on his mind; 
and he continued to attend the preached word, particularly at Totten- 
ham-court Chapel. Every sermon increased his sorrow and grief that 
he had not earlier sought the Lord. It was a considerable time before 
he found comfort from the gospel. He has stood in the free part of 
the chapel, hearing with such emotion, that the tears have flowed from 
his eyes in torrents; and, when he has returned home, he has con- 
tinued a great part of the night on his knees, praying over what he 
had heard. 

‘The change effected by the power of the Holy Spirit on his heart 
now became visible to all. Nor did he halt between two opinions, as 
some persons do; he became at once a decided character, and gave 
up for ever all his vain pursuits and amusements; devoting himself 
with as much resolution and diligence to the service of God,as he had 
formerly done to folly.—Ev. Mag. p. 194. 


An interference respecting Cards. 


‘A clergyman not far distant from the spot on which these lines 
were written, was spending an evening—not in his closet wrestling 
with his Divine Master for the communication of that grace which 
is so peculiarly necessary for the faithful discharge of the ministerial 
function,—not in his study searching the sacred oracles of divine truth 
for materials wherewith to prepare for his public exercises and feed 
the flock under his care,—not in pastoral visits to that flock, to inquire 
into the state of their souls, and endeavour, by his pious and affection- 
ate conversation, to conciliate their esteem, and promote their edifica- 
tion, but at the card table.’—After stating that when it was his turn to 
deal, he dropped down dead, ‘It is worthy of remark (says the writer), 
that within a very few years this was the third character in the neigh- 
bourhood which had been summoned from the card table to the bar 
of God” —Ev. Mag. p. 262. 


Interference respecting Swearing,—a Bee the instrument. 
‘A young man is stung by a bee, upon which he buffets the bees 


METHODISM. 83 


with his hat, uttering at the same time the most dreadful oaths and 
imprecations. In the midst of his fury, one of these little combatants 
stung him upon the tip of that unruly member (his tongue), which was 
then employed in blaspheming his Maker. Thus can the Lord engage 
one of the meanest of his creatures in reproving the bold transgressor 
who dares to take his name in vain. —Ev. Mag. p. 363. 


Interference with respect to David Wright, who was cured of Atheism and 
Scrofula by one Sermon of Mr. Coles. 


This case is too long to quote in the language and with the 
evidences of the writers. ‘The substance of it is what our title 
implies. —David Wright was a man with scrofulous legs and 
atheistical principles ;—being with difficulty persuaded to hear 
one sermon from Mr. Coles, he limped to the church in ex- 
treme pain, and arrived there after great exertions ;—during 
church time he was entirely converted, walked home with the 
greatest ease, and never after experienced the slightest return 
of scrofula or infidelity.—Zv. Mag. p. 444. 


The displeasure of Providence is expressed at Captain Scott’s going to 
preach in Mr. Romaine’s Chapel. 


The sign of this displeasure is a violent storm of thunder 
and lightning just as he came into town.— Lv. Mag. p. 537. 


Interference with respect to an Innkeeper, who was destroyed for having 
appointed a cock-fight at the very time that the service was beginning 
at the Methodist Chapel. 


‘ “Nevermind,” says the innkeeper, “I’ll get a greater congregation 
than the Methodist parson;—we’ll have a cock-fight.” But what is 
man! how insignificant his designs, how impotent his strength, how 
ill-fated his plans, when opposed to that Being who is infinite in wis- 
dom, boundless in power, terrible in judgment, and who frequently 
reverses, and suddenly renders abortive, the projects of the wicked! 
A few days after the avowal of his intention, the innkeeper sickened,’ 
&c. &c. And then the narrator goes on to state, that his corpse was 
carried by the meeting-house, ‘on the day, and exactly at the time, the 
deceased had fixed for the cock-fight.—Meth. Mag. p. 126. 


In page 167, Meth. Mag.,a father, mother, three sons, and 
a sister, are destroyed by particular interposition. 

In page 222, Meth. Mag., a dancing-master is destroyed 
for irreligion,—another person for swearing at a cock-fight,— 
and a third for pretending to be deaf and dumb. ‘These are 
Bet recent and authentic accounts of God’s avenging provi- 

ence. 


So much for the miraculous interposition of Providence in 


84 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


cases where the Methodists are concerned: we shall now pro- 
ceed to a few specimens of the energy of their religious feel- 
ings. 


Mr. Roberts’s feelings in the month of May, 1793. 


‘But, all this time, my soul was stayed upon God; my desires in- 
creased, and my mind was kept in a sweet praying frame, a going out 
of myself, as it were, and taking shelter in Him. Every breath I 
drew, ended ina prayer. I felt myself helpless as an infant, depend- 
ent upon God for all things. I was in a constant daily expectation 
of receiving all I wanted; and, on Friday, May 31st, under Mr. Ruth- 
erford’s sermon, though entirely independent of it, (for I could not 
give any account of-what he had been preaching about,) I was given 
to feel that God was waiting to be very gracious to me; the spirit of 
prayer and supplication was given me, and such an assurance that I 
was accepted in the Beloved, as I cannot describe, but which I shall 
never forget.’—Meth. Mag. p. 35. 


Mrs. Elizabeth Price and her Attendants hear sacred music on a sudden. 


‘A few nights before her death, while some neighbours and her 
husband were sitting up with her,a sudden and joyful sound of music 
was heard by all present, although some of them were carnal people; 
at which time she thought she saw her crucified Saviour before her, 
speaking these words with power to her soul, “Thy sins are forgiven 
thee, and I love thee freely.” After this she never doubted of her accept- 
ance with God; and on Christmas day following was taken to cele- 
brate the Redeemer’s birth in the Paradise of God. Micuazx Covsin.’ 
— Meth. Mag. p. 137. 


T. L., a Sailor on board of the Stag frigate has a special revelation from 
our Saviour. 


‘October 26th, being the Lord’s day, he had a remarkable manifes- 
tation of God’s love to his soul. That blessed morning, he was much 
grieved by hearing the wicked use profane language, when Jesus re- 
vealed himself to him, and impressed on his mind those words, “Fol- 
low Me.” This was a precious day to him.’—WMeth. Mag. p. 140. 


The manner tn which Mr. Thomas Cook was accustomed to accost S. B. 


‘Whenever he met me in the street, his salutation used to be, “ Have 
you free and lively intercourse with God to-day? Are yougiving your 
whole heart to God?’ _I have known him on such occasions speak in 
so pertinent a manner, that I have been astonished at his knowledge 
of my state. Meeting me one morning, he said, “I have been praying 
for you; you have had a sore conflict, though all is well now.” At 
another time he asked, “Have you been much exercised these few 
days, for I have been led to pray that you might especially have suf- 
fering grace.”’—Meth. Mag. p. 247. 


Mr. John Kestin on his death-bed. 
‘« Oh, my dear, I am now going to glory, happy, happy, happy. Iam 


METHODISM. 85 


going to sing praises to God and the Lamb; I am going to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob. Ithink I can see my Jesus without a glass between. 
I can, I feel I can, discern ‘ my title clear to mansions in the skies.’ 
Come, Lord Jesus, come! why are thy chariot-wheels so long delay- 
ing?” ’— Ev. Mag. p. 124. 


The Reverend Mr. Mead’s sorrow for his sins. 


‘This wrought him up to temporary desperation; his inexpressible 
grief poured itself forth in groans: “Oh that I had never sinned 
against God! I havea hell here upon earth, and there is a hell for me 
in eternity!” One Lord’s day, very early in the morning, he was 
awoke by a tempest of thunder and lightning; and imagining it to be 
the end of the world, his agony was great, supposing the great day of 
divine wrath was come, and he unprepared: but happy to find it not 
so.’—Ev. Mag. p. 147. 


Similar case of Mr. John Robinson. 


‘About two hours before he died, he was in great agony of body 
and mind: it appeared that the enemy was permitted to struggle with 
him; and being greatly agitated, he cried out, “ Ye powers of darkness 
begone!” This however did not last long: “the prey was taken from 
the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered,” although he was not 
permitted to tell of his deliverance, but lay quite still and composed.’ 
—Ev. Mag. p. 177. 


The Reverend William Tennant in an heavenly trance. 


‘“ While I was conversing with my brother,” said he, “on the state 
of my soul, and the fears I had entertained for my future welfare, I 
found myself in an instant, in another state of existence, under the 
direction of a superior being, who ordered me to follow him. I was 
wafted along, I know not how, till I beheld at a distance an ineffable 
glory, the impression of which on my mind it is impossible to com- 
municate to mortalman. Iimmediately reflected on my happy change; 
and thought, Well, blessed be God! I am safe at last, notwithstanding 
all my fears. _I saw an innumerable host of happy beings surrounding 
the inexpressible glory, in acts of adoration and joyous worship; but 
I did not see any bodily shape or representation in the glorious appear- 
ance. I heard things unutterable. I heard their songs and hallelujahs 
of thanksgiving and praise, with unspeakable rapture. I felt joy un- 
utterable and full of glory. I then applied to my conductor, and 
requested leave to join the happy throng.” ’—Ev. Mag. p. 251. 


The following we consider to be one of the most shocking 
histories we ever read. God only knows how many such 
scenes take place in the gloomy annals of Methodism. 


‘A young man, of the name of S C , grandson to a late emi- 
nent Dissenting minister, and brought up by him, came to reside at 
K g, about the year 1803. He attended at the Baptist place of 
worship, not only on the Lord’s day, but frequently at the week-day 











86 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


lectures and prayer-meetings. He was supposed by some to be seri- 
ously inclined; but his opinion .of himself was, that he had never 
experienced that divine change, without which no man can be saved. 

‘However that might be, there is reason to believe he had been for 
some years under powerful convictions of his miserable condition as 
a sinner. In June 1806, these convictions were observed to increase, 
and that ina more than common degree. From that time he went 
into no company; but, when he was not at work; kept in his chamber, 
where he was employed in singing plaintive hymns, and bewailing 
his lost and perishing state. 

‘He had about him several religious people; but could not be in- 
duced to open his mind to them, or to impart to any one the cause of 
his distress. Whether this contributed to increase it or not, it did in- 
crease, till his health was greatly affected by it, and he was scarcely 
able to work at his business. 

‘While he was at meeting on Lord’s day, September 14th, he was 
observed to labour under very great emotion of mind, especially when 
he heard the following words. ‘Sinner,if you die without an interest 
in Christ, you will sink into the regions of eternal death.” 

‘On the Saturday evening following, he intimated to the mistress 
of the house where he lodged, that some awful judgment was about to 
come upon him; and as he should not be able to be at meeting next 
day, requested that an attendant might be procured to stay with him. 
She replied, that she would herself stay at home, and wait upon him; 
which she did. : 

‘On the Lord’s day he was in great agony of mind. His mother 
was sent for,and some religious friends visited him; but all was of no 
avail. That night was a night dreadful beyond conception. The hor- 
ror which he endured brought on all the symptoms of raging madness. 
He desired the attendants not to come near him, lest they should be 
burnt. He said that “the bed-curtains were in flames,—that he smelt 
the brimstone,—that devils were come to fetch him,—that there was 
no hope for him, for that he had sinned against light and conviction, 
and that he should certainly go to hell.” It was with difficulty he 
could be kept in bed. 

‘An apothecary being sent for, as soon as he entered the house, and 
heard his dreadful howlings, he inquired if he had not been bitten by 
a mad dog. His appearance, likewise, seemed to justify such a sus- 
picion, his countenance resembling that of a wild beast more thanof a 
man. 

‘Though he had no feverish heat, yet his pulse beat above 150 in a 
minute. To abate the mania, a quantity of blood was taken from him, 
a blister was applied, his head was shaved, cold water was copiously 
poured over him, and fox-glove was administered. By these means 
his fury was abated; but his mental agony continued, and all the 
symptoms of madness which his bodily strength, thus reduced, would 
allow, till the following Thursday. On that day he seemed to have 
recovered his reason, and to be calm in his mind. In the evening he 
sent for the apothecary; and wished to speak with him by himself. 
The latter, on his coming, desired every one to leave the room, and 


METHODISM. 87 





thus addressed him: “C , have you not something on your mind?” 
“Ay,” answered he, “that tsit/” He then acknowledged that, early in 
the month of June, he had gone to a fair in the neighbourhood, in com- 
pany with a number of wicked young men: that they drank at a pub 
lic-house together till he was in a measure intoxicated; and that from 
thence.they went into other company, where he was criminally con- 
nected with a harlot. “I have been a miserable creature,” continued 
he, “ever since; but during the last three days and three nights, [have 
been in a State of desperation.” He intimated to the apothecary, that 
he could not bear to tell this story to his minister: “ But,” said he, “do 
you inform him that I shall not die in despair; for light has broken in 
upon me; I have been led to the great Sacrifice for sin, and Inow hope 
in him for salvation.” 

‘From this time his mental distress ceased, his countenance became 
placid, and his conversation, instead of being taken up as before with 
fearful exclamations concerning devils and the wrath to come, was 
now confined to the dying love of Jesus! The apothecary was of 
opinion, that if his strength had not been so much exhausted, he would 
now have been in astate of religious transport. His nervous system, 
however, had received such a shock, that his recovery was doubtful ; 
and it seemed certain, that if he did recover, he would sink into a state 
of idiocy. He survived this interview but a few days’—Ev. Mag. p. 
412, 413. 


A religious observer stands at a turnpike gate on a Sunday, 
to witness the profane crowd passing by ; he sees a man driv- 
ing very clumsily ina gig; the inexperience of the driver pro- 
vokes the following pious observations. 


‘« What (I said to myself) if asingle untoward cireumstance should 
happen! Should the horse take fright, or the wheel on either side get 
entangled, or the gig upset,—in either case what can preserve them? 
And should a morning so fair and promising bring on evil before night, 
—should death on his pale horse appear,—what follows? My mind 
shuddered at the images I had raised.” ’—Ev. Mag. p. 558, 559, 


Miss Lowisa Cooke’s rapturous state. 


‘From this period she lived chiefly in retirement, either in reading 
the sacred volume on her knees, or in pouring out her soul in prayer 
toGod. While thus employed, she was not unfrequently indulged with 
visits from her gracious Lord; and sometimes she felt herself to be 
surrounded, as it were, by his glorious presence. After her return to 
Bristol, her frame of mind became so heavenly, that she seemed often 
to be dissolved in the love of God her Saviour.” —Ev. Mag. p.576, 577. 


Objection to Almanacks. 


‘Let those who have been partial to such vain productions, only 
read Isaiah xlvii. 13, and Daniel ii. 27; and they will here see what 
they are to be accounted of, and in what company they are to be found; 
and let them learn to despise their equivocal and artful insinuations, 


88 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


which are too frequently blended with profanity; for is it not profanity 
in them to attempt to palm their frauds upon mankind by Scripture 
quotations, which they seldom fail to do, especially Judges v. 20, and 
Job xxxviii. 31? neither of which teaches nor warrants any such prac- 
tice. Had Baruch or Deborah consulted the stars? No such thing.’ 
—Ev. Mag. p. 600. 


This energy of feeling will be found occasionally to meddle 
with, and disturb the ordinary occupations and amusements of 
life, and to raise up little qualms of conscience, which, instead 
of exciting respect, border, we fear, somewhat too closely upon 
the ludicrous. 


A Methodist Footman. 


‘A gentleman’s servant, who has left a good place because he was 
ordered to deny his master when actually at home, wishes something 
on this subject may be introduced into this work, that persons who 
are in the habit of denying themselves in the above manner may be 
convinced of its evil.’ —Ev. Mag. p. 72. 


Doubts if it is right to take any interest for money. 


‘Usury.—Sir, I beg the favour of you to insert the following case of 
conscience. I frequently find in Scripture, that Usury is particularly 
condemned; and that it is represented as the character of a good man, 
that “he hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any in- 
crease,” Ezek. xviii. 8, &c. I wish, therefore, to know how such 
passages are to be understood; and whether the taking of interest for 
money, as is universally practised among us, can be reconciled with 
the word and will of God? Q.’—Ev. Mag. p. 74. - 


Dancing ill suited to a creature on trial for eternity. 


‘If dancing be a waste of time; if the precious hours devoted to it 
may be better employed; if it be a species of trifling ill suited to a 
creature on trial for eternity, and hastening towards it on the swift 
wings of time; if it be incompatible with genuine repentance, true faith 
in Christ, supreme love to God, and a state of genuine devotedness to 
him,—then is dancing a practice utterly opposed to the whole spirit 
and temper of Christianity, and subversive of the. best interests of the 
rising generation.’—Meth. Mag. p. 127, 128. 


The Methodists consider themselves as constituting a chosen 
and separate people, living in a land of atheists and voluptua- 
ries. The expressions by which they designate their own 
sects, are the dear people—the elect—the people of God. ‘The 
rest of mankind are carnal people—the people of this world, 
&c. &c. The children of Israel were not more separated, 
through the favour of God, from the Egyptians, than the Me- 
thodists are, in their own estimation, from the rest of mankind. 


METHODISM. 89 


We had hitherto supposed that the disciples of the Established 
churches in England and Scotland had been Christians; and 
that, after baptism, duly performed by the appointed minister, 
and participation in the customary worship of these two 
churches, Christianity was the religion of which they were to 
be considered as members. We see, however, in these publi- 
cations, men of twenty or thirty years of age first called to a 
knowledge of Christ under a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Venn, 
—or first admitted into the church of Christ under a sermon 
by the Rev. Mr. Romaine. ‘The apparent admission turns 
out to have been a mere mockery; and the pseudo-christian 
to have had no religion at all, till the business was really and 
effectually done under these sermons by Mr. Venn and Mr. 
Romaine. 


An awful and general departure from the Christian Faith in the Church 
of England. 

‘A second volume of Mr. Cooper’s sermons is before us, stamped 
with the same broad seal of truth and excellence as the former. 
Amidst the awful and general departure from the faith, as once deli- 
vered to the saints, in the Church of England, and sealed by the blood 
of our Reformers, it is pleasing to observe that there is a remnant, 
according to the election of grace, who continue rising up to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God, and to call back their fellows to the 
consideration of the great and leading doctrines on which the Refor- 
mation was built, and the Church of England by law established. The 
author of these sermons, avoiding all matters of more doubtful dispu- 
tation, avowedly attaches himself to the great fundamental truths; and 
on the two substantial pillars, the Jachin and Boaz of the living tem- 
ple, erects his superstructure. 1. Justification by faith, without works, 
free and full, by grace alone, through the redemption which is in Jesus 
Christ, stands at the commencement of the first volume; and on its 
side rises in the beauty of holiness,’ &c.— Ev. Mag. p. 79. 


Mr. Robinson called to the knowledge of Christ under Mr. Venn’s Sermon. 


‘Mr. Robinson was called in early life to the knowledge of Christ, 
under a sermon at St. Dunstan’s, by the late Rev. Mr. Venn, from 
Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26; the remembrance of which greatly refreshed his 
soul upon his death-bed.’—Ev. Mag. p. 176. 


Christianity introduced into the Parish of Launton, near Bicester, in the 
year 1807. 

‘A very general spirit of inquiry having appeared for some time in 
the village of Launton, near Bicester, some serious persons were ex- 
cited to communicate to them the word of life’ —Ev. Mag. p. 380. 

We learn in page 128, Meth. Mag., that twelve months 

VOL. I.—7 


90 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


had elapsed from the time of Mrs. Cocker’s joining the people 
of od, before she obtained a clear sense of forgiveness. 


A religious Hoy sets off every week for Margate. 


‘Religious Passengers accommodated.—To the Editor.—Sir, it afforded 
me considerable pleasure to see upon the cover of your Magazine for 
the present month, an advertisement, announcing the establishment 
of a packet, to sail weekly between London and Margate, during the 
season; which appears to have been set on foot for the accommodation 
of religious characters; and in which “no profane conversation is to 
be allowed.” 

‘To those among the followers of a crucified Redeemer, who are in 
the habit of visiting the Isle of Thanet in the summer, and who, for 
the sea air, or from other circumstances, prefer travelling by water, 
such a conveyance must certainly be a desideratum, especially if they 
have experienced a mortification similar to that of the writer, in the 
course of the last summer, when shut up ina cabin with a mixed mul- 
titude, who spake almost all languages but that of Canaan. ‘Totally 
unconnected with the concern, and personally a stranger to the worthy 
owner, I take the liberty of recommending this vessel to the notice of 
my fellow-Christians ; persuaded that they will think themselves bound 
to patronise and encourage an undertaking that has the honour of the 
dear Redeemer for its professed object. It ought ever to be remem- 
bered, that every talent we possess, whether large or small, is given 
us in trust to be laid out for God;—and I have often thought that 
Christians act inconsistently with their high profession, when they 
omit, even in their most common and trivial expenditures, to give a 
decided preference to the friends of their Lord. I do not, however, 
anticipate any such ground of complaint in this instance; but rather 
believe, that the religious world in general will cheerfully unite with 
me, while I most cordially wish success to the Princess of Wales 
Yacht, and pray that she may ever sail under the divine protection 
and blessing;—that the humble followers of Him who spoke the 
storm into a calm, when crossing the lake of Gennesareth, may often 
feel their hearts glowing with sacred ardour, while in her cabins they 
enjoy sweet communion with their Lord and with each other;—and 
that strangers, who may be providentially brought among them, may 
see so much of the beauty and excellency of the religion of Jesus 
exemplified in their conduct and conversation, that they may be con- 
strained to say, “ We will go with you, for we perceive that God is 
with you.u—Your God shall be our God, and his people shall hence- 
forth be our chosen companions and associates.” Iam, Mr. Editor, 
your obliged friend and sister in the gospel, E. T.’—Ev. Mag. p. 268. 


A religious newspaper is announced in the Ev. M. for 
September.—It is said of common newspapers, ‘That they 
are absorbed in temporal concerns, while the consideration 
of those which are eternal is postponed; the business of this 
life has superseded the claims of immortality; and the monarchs 


METHODISM. 91 


of the world have engrossed an attention which would have 
been more properly devoted to the Saviour of the universe.’ 
It is then stated, ‘that the columns of this paper (Zhe Jn- 
structor, Price 6d.) will be supplied by pious reflections ; 
suitable comments to improve the dispensations of Providence 
will be introduced; and the whole conducted with an eye to 
our spiritual, as well as temporal welfare. The work will 
contain the latest news up to four o’clock on the day of publi- 
cation, together with the most recent religious occurrences. 
The prices of stock, and correct market-tables, will also be 
accurately detailed” —Zv. Mag. September Advertisement. 
The Eclectic Review is also understood to be carried on upon 
Methodistical principles. 

Nothing can evince more strongly the influence which 
Methodism now exercises upon common life, and the fast hold 
it has got of the people, than the advertisements which are 
circulated every month in these very singular publications. 
On the cover of a single number, for example, we have the 
following :— 


‘Wanted, by Mr. Turner, shoemaker, a steady apprentice; he will 
have the privilege of attending the ministry of the gospel;—a premium 
expected, p. 3.— Wanted, a serious young woman, as servant of all 
work, 3.—Wanted, a man of serious character, who can shave, 3.— 
Wanted, a serious woman to assist in a shop, 3.—A young person in 
the millinery line wishes to be in aserious family, 4.— Wants a place, 
a young man who has brewed in a serious family, 4.—Ditto, a young 
woman of evangelical principles, 4.— Wanted, an active serious shop- 
man, 5.—To be sold, an eligible residence, with sixty acres of land; 
gospel preached in three places within half a mile, 5.—A single gen- 
tleman may be accommodated with lodging in a small serious family, 
5.—To let, a genteel first floor in an airy situation near the Tabernacle, 
6.— Wanted, a governess, of evangelical principles and corresponding 
character, 10.’ 


The religious vessel we have before spoken of, is thus ad- 
vertised :— 
‘The Princess of Wales Yacht, J. Chapman, W. Bourn, master, by 


divine permission, will leave Ralph’s Quay every Friday, 11.’ &c. &c. 
—July Ev. Mag. 


After the specimens we have given of these people, any 
thing which is said of their activity can very easily be credited. 
The army and navy appear to be particular objects of their 
attention. 


‘British Navy.—It is with peculiar pleasure we insert the following 


92 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


extract of a letter from the pious chaplain of a man-of-war, to a gen- 
tleman at Gosport, intimating the power and grace of God manifested 
towards our brave seamen. “Off Cadiz, Nov. 26, 1806.—My dear friend 
—A fleet for England found us in the night, and is just going away. 
T have only to tell you that the work of God seems to prosper. Many 
are under convictions ;—some, I trust,are converted. I preach every 
night, and am obliged to have a private meeting afterwards with those 
who wish to speak about their souls. But my own health is suffering 
much, nor shall I probably be able long to bear it. The ship is likea 
tabernacle; and really there is much external reformation. Capt. 
raises no objection. I have near a hundred hearers every night 
at six o’clock. How unworthy am I!—Pray for us.” ’—Ev. Mag. 84. 


The Testimony of a profane Officer to the worth of Pious Sailors. 


‘Mr. Editor—In the mouth of two or three witnesses a truth shall be 
established. I recently met with a pleasing confirmation of a narra- 
tive, stated some time since in your Magazine. I was surprised by a 
visit from an old acquaintance of mine the other day, who is now an 
officer of rank in his Majesty’s navy. In the course of conversation, 
I was shocked at the profane oaths that perpetually interrupted his 
sentences; and took an opportunity to express my regret that such 
language should be socommon among so valuable a body of men. 
“Sir,” said he, still interspersing many solemn imprecations, “an offi- 
cer cannot live at sea without swearing ;—not one of my men would 
mind a word without an oath; itiscommon sea-language. If we were 
not to swear, the rascals would take us for lubbers, stare in our faces, 
and leave us to do our commands ourselves. I never knew but one 
exception; and that wasextraordinary. I declare, believe me ’tis true 
(suspecting that I might not credit it), there was a set of fellows called 
Methodists, on board the Victory, Lord Nelson’s ship, (to be sure he 
was rather a religious man himself!) and those men never wanted 
swearing at. The dogs were the best seamen on board. Every man 
knew his duty, and every man did his duty. They used to meet toge- 
ther and sing hymns; and nobody dared molestthem. The commander 
would not have suffered it, had they attempted it. They were allowed 
a mess by themselves; and never mixed with the other men. I have 
often heard them singing away myself; and ’tis true, I assure you, but 
not one of them was either killed or wounded at the battle of Trafalgar, 
though they did their duty as well as any men. No, not one of the 
psalm-singing gentry was even hurt; and there the fellows are swim- 
ming away in the Bay of Biscay at this very time, singing like the 
d They are now under a new commander; but still are allowed 
the same privileges, and mess by themselves. These were the only 
fellows that ever I knew do their duty without swearing; and I will 
do them the justice to say they do it.” J. C’—Ev. Mag. p. 119, 120. 








These people are spread over the face of the whole earth in 
the shape of missionaries.— Upon the subject of missions we 
shall say very little or nothing at present, because we reserve 
it for another article in asubsequent Number. But we cannot 


METHODISM. 93 


help remarking the magnitude of the collections made in favour 
of the missionaries at the Methodistical chapels, when com- 
pared with the collections for any common object of charity in 
the orthodox churches and chapels. 


‘Religious Tract Society——A most satisfactory Report was presented 
by the Committee; from which it appeared, that since the commence- 
ment of the Institution in the year 1799, upwards of Four Milkons of 
Religious Tracts have been issued under the auspices of the Society; 
and that considerably more than one-fourth of that number have been 
sold during the last year’ —Ev. Mag. p. 284. 


These tracts are dropped in villages by the Methodists, and 
thus every chance for conversion afforded to the common peo- 
ple. There is a proposal in one of the numbers of the volumes 
before us, that travellers, for every pound they spend on the 
road, should fling one shilling’s worth of these tracts out of the 
chaise window;—thus taxing his pleasures at 5 per cent. for 
the purposes of doing good. 


‘Every Christian who expects the protection and blessing of God, 
ought to take with him as many shillings’ worth, at least, of cheap 
Tracts to throw on the road, and leave at inns, as he takes out pounds 
to expend on himself and family. This is really but a trifling sacri- 
fice. It is a highly reasonable one; and one which God will ‘accept.’ 
— Hv. Mag. p. 405. 


It is part of their policy to have a great change of Ministers. 


‘Same day, the Rev. W. Haward, from Hoxton Academy, was 
ordained over the Independent church at Rendham, Suffolk. Mr. 
Pickles, of Walpole, began with prayer and reading; Mr. Price, of 
Woodbridge, delivered the introductory discourse, and asked the 
questions ; Mr. Dennant, of Halesworth, offered the ordination prayer; 
Mr. Shufflebottom, of Bungay, gave the charge from Acts xx. 28; Mr. 
Vincent, of Deal, the general prayer; and Mr. Walford, of Yarmouth, 
preached to the people from 2 Phil. ii. 16’.—Ev. Mag. p. 429. 

Chapels opened. Hambledon, Bucks, Sept. 22.—Eighteen months 
ago this parish was destitute of the gospel: the people ‘have now one 
of the Rey. G. Collison’s students, the Rev. Mr. Eastmead, settled 
among them. Mr. English, of Wooburn, and Mr. Frey, preached on 
the occasion; and Mr. Jones of London, Mr. Churchill, of Henley, Mr. 
Redford, of Windsor, and Mr. Barratt, now of Petersfield, prayed.’— 
Ev. Mag. p- 533. 


Methodism in his Majesty’s ship Tonnant—a Letter from the Sail-maker. 


‘It is with great satisfaction that I can now inform you God has 
deigned, in a yet greater degree, to own the weak efforts of his servant 
to turn many from Satan to himself. Many are called here, as is plain 
to be seen by their pensive looks and deep sighs. And if they would 


94 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


be obedient to the heavenly call, instead of grieving the Spirit of grace, 
I dare say we should soon have near half the ship’s company brought 
to God. I doubt not, however, but, as I have cast my bread upon the 
waters, it will be found after many days. Our 13 are now increased 
to upwards of 30. Surely the Lord delighteth not in the death of him 
that dieth.— Meth. Mag. p. 188. 


It appears also, from p. 193, Meth. Mag., that the same 
principles prevail on board his Majesty’s ship Sea-horse, 44 
guns. And in one part of Evan. Mag. great hopes are enter- 
tained of the 25th regiment. We believe this is the number; 
but we quote this fact from memory. 


We must remember, in addition to these trifling speci- 
mens of their active disposition, that the Methodists have 
found a powerful party in the House of Commons, who, by 
the neutrality which they affect, and partly adhere to, are 
courted both by ministers and opposition; that they have 
gained complete possession of the India-House; and under the 
pretence, or perhaps, with the serious intention of educating 
young people for India, will take care to introduce (as much as 
they dare without provoking attention) their own particular 
tenets. In fact, one thing must always be taken for granted 
respecting these people,—that wherever they gain a footing, 
or whatever be the institutions to which they give birth, 
proselytism will be their main object; every thing else is a 
mere instrument—this is their principal aim. When every 
proselyte is not only an addition to their temporal power, but 
when the act of conversion which gains a vote, saves (as they 
suppose) a soul from destruction,—it is quite needless to state, 
that every faculty of their minds will be dedicated to this most 
important of all temporal and eternal concerns. 

Their attack upon the Church is not merely confined to pub- 
lications; it is generally understood that they have a very con- 
siderable fund for the purchase of livings, to which, of course, 
ministers of their own profession are always presented. 

Upon the foregoing facts, and upon the spirit evinced by 
these extracts, we shall make a few comments. 

1. It is obvious, that this description of Christians entertain 
very erroneous and dangerous notions of the present judgments 
of God. A belief, that Providence interferes in all the little 
actions of our lives, refers all merit and demerit to bad and 
good fortune; and causes the successful man to be always con- 
sidered as a good man, and the unhappy man as the object of 


METHODISM. 95 


divine vengeance. It furnishes ignorant and designing men 
with a power which is sure to be abused:—the ery of, a judg- 
ment, a judgment, it is always easy to make, but not easy to 
resist, It encourages the grossest superstitions; for if the 
Deity rewards and punishes on every slight occasion, it is 
quite impossible, but that such an helpless being as man will 
set himself at work to discover the will of Heaven in the ap- 
pearances of outward nature, to apply all the phenomena of 
thunder, lightning, wind, and every striking appearance to the 
regulation of his conduct; as the poor Methodist, when he 
rode into Piccadilly in a thunder storm, and imagined that all 
the uproar of the elements was a mere hint to him not to preach 
at Mr. Romaine’s chapel. Hence a great deal of error, and a 
great deal of secret misery. ‘This doctrine of a theocracy 
must necessarily place an excessive power in the hands of the 
clergy: it applies so instantly and so tremendously to men’s 
hopes and fears, that it must make the priest omnipotent over 
the people, as it always has done where it has been established. 
It has a great tendency to check human exertions, and to pre- 
vent the employment of those secondary means of effecting an 
object which Providence has placed in our power. ‘The doc- 
trine of the immediate and perpetual interference of Divine 
providence, is not true. If two men travel the same road, the 
one to rob, the other to relieve a fellow-creature who is starv- 
ing; will any but the most fanatic contend, that they do not 
both run the same chance of falling over a stone, and breaking 
their legs? and is it not matter of fact, that the robber often 
returns safe, and the just man sustains the injury? Have not 
the soundest divines, of both churches, always urged this un- 
equal distribution of good and evil, in the present state, as one 
of the strongest natural arguments for a future state of retribu- 
tion? Have not they contended, and well, and admirably 
contended, that the supposition of such a state is absolutely 
necessary to our notion of the justice of God,—absolutely 
necessary to restore order to that moral confusion which we all 
observe and deplore in the present world? The man who 
places religion upon a false basis is the greatest enemy to reli- 
gion. If victory is always to the just and good,—how is the 
fortune of impious conquerors to be accounted for? Why do 
they erect dynasties, and found families which last for centu- 
ries? The reflecting mind whom you have instructed in this 
manner, and for present effect only, naturally comes upon you 


96 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


hereafter with difficulties of this sort; he finds he has been 
deceived; and you will soon discover that, in breeding up a 
fanatic, you have unwittingly laid the foundation of an atheist. 
The honest and the orthodox method is to prepare young peo- 
ple for the world, as it actually exists; to tell them that they 
will often find vice perfectly successful, virtue exposed to a 
long train of afflictions; that they must bear this patiently, 
and look to another world for its rectification. 

2. The second doctrine which it is necessary to notice 
among the Methodists, is the doctrine of inward impulse and 
emotions, which, it is quite plain, must lead, if universally in- 
sisted upon, and preached among the common people, to every 
species of folly and enormity. When an human being believes 
that his internal feelings are the monitions of God, and that 
these monitions must govern his conduct; and when a great 
stress is purposely laid upon these inward feelings in all the 
discourses from the pulpit; it is, of course, impossible to say 
to what a pitch of extravagance mankind may not be carried, 
under the influence of such dangerous doctrines. 

3. The Methodists hate pleasure and amusements; no the- 
atre, no cards, no dancing, no punchinello, no dancing dogs, 
no blind fiddlers ;—all the amusements of the rich and of the 
poor must disappear, wherever these gloomy people get a foot- 
ing. It is not the abuse of pleasure which they attack, but 
the interspersion of pleasure, however much it is guarded by 
good sense and moderation ;—it is not only wicked to hear the 
licentious plays of Congreve, but wicked to hear Henry the 
Vth, or the School for Scandal:—it is not only dissipated to 
run about to all the parties in London and Edinburgh,—but 
dancing is not fit for a being who is preparing himself for 
Eternity. Ennui, wretchedness, melancholy, groans and 
sighs, are the offerings which these unhappy men make to a 
Deity who has covered the earth with gay colours, and scented 
it with rich perfumes; and shown us, by the plan and order of 
his works, that he has given to man something better than a 
bare existence, and scattered over his creation a thousand 
superfluous joys, which are totally unnecessary to the mere 
support of life. 

4. The Methodists lay very little stress upon practical right- 
eousness. ‘They do not say to their people, do not be deceitful; 
do not be idle; get rid of your bad passions; or at least (if they 
do say these things) they say them very seldom. Not that they 


METHODISM. 97 


preach faith without works; for if they told the people, that 
they might rob and murder with impunity, the civil magistrate 
must be compelled to interfere with such doctrine:—but they 
say a great deal about faith, and very little about works. What 
are commonly called the mysterious parts of our religion, are 
brought into the foreground much more than the doctrines 
which lead to practice;—and this among the lowest of the 
community. 

The Methodists have hitherto been accused of dissenting 
from the Church of England. ‘This, as far as relates to mere 
subscription to articles, is not true; but they differ in their 
choice of the articles upon which they dilate and expand, and 
to which they appear to give a preference, from the stress 
which they place upon them. ‘There is nothing heretical in 
saying, that God sometimes intervenes with his special pro- 
vidence; but these people differ from the Established Church, 
in the degree in which they insist upon this doctrine. In the 
hands of a man of sense and education, it is a safe doctrine ;— 
in the management of the Methodists, we have seen how 
ridiculous and degrading it becomes. In the same manner, a 
clergyman of the Church of England would not do his duty, 
if he did not insist upon the necessity of faith, as well as of 
good works; but as he believes that it is much more easy to 
give credit to doctrines than to live well, he labours most in 
those points where human nature is the most liable to prove 
defective. Because he does so, he is accused of giving up 
the articles of his faith, by men who have their partialities also 
in doctrine; but parties, not founded upon the same sound dis- 
cretion, and knowledge of human nature. 

5. ‘The Methodists are always desirous of making men more 
religious than it is possible, from the constitution of human 
nature to make them. If they could succeed as much as they 
wish to succeed, there would be at once an end of delving and 
spinning, and of every exertion of human industry. Men must 
eat, and drink, and work; and if you wish to fix upon them 
high and elevated notions, as the ordinary furniture of their 
minds, you do these two things ;—you drive men of warm 
temperaments mad,—and you introduce in the rest of the world, 
a low and shocking familiarity with words and images, which 
every real friend to religion would wish to keep sacred. The 
Friends of the dear Redeemer, who are in the habit of visiting 
the Isle of Thanet—(as in the extract we have quoted)—Is it 


98 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


possible that this mixture of the most awful, with the most 
familiar images, so common among Methodists now, and with 
the enthusiasts in the time of Cromwell, must not, in the end, 
divest religion of all the deep and solemn impressions which it 
is calculated to produce?’ In a man of common imagination 
(as we have before observed,) the terror, and the feeling which 
it first excited, must necessarily be soon separated: but, where 
the fervour of impression is long preserved, piety ends in 
Bedlam. Accordingly, there is not a mad-house in England, 
where a considerable part of the patients have not been driven 
to insanity by the extravagance of these people. We cannot 
enter such places without seeing a number of honest artisans, 
covered with blankets, and calling themselves angels and apos- 
tles, who, if they had remained contented with the instruction 
of men of learning and education, would have been sound mas- 
ters of their own trade, sober Christians, and useful members of 
society. 

6. It is impossible not to observe how directly all the doctrine 
of the Methodists is calculated to gain power among the poor 
and ignorant. ‘To say, that the Deity governs this world by 
general rules, and that we must wait for another and a final 
scene of existence, before vice meets with its merited punish- 
ment, and virtue with its merited reward; to preach this up 
daily, would not add a single votary to. the ‘Tabernacle, nor 
sell a Number of the Methodistical Magazine :—but to publish 
an account of a man who was cured of scrofula by a single ser- 
mon—of Providence destroying the innkeeper at Garstang for 
appointing a cock-fight near the ‘Tabernacle ;—this promptness 
of judgment and immediate execution is so much like human 
justice, and so much better adapted to vulgar capacities, that 
the system is at once admitted as soon as any one can be found 
who is impudent or ignorant enough to teach it; and, being 
once admitted, it produces too strong an effect upon the pas- 
sions to be easily relinquished. ‘The case is the same with the 
doctrine of inward impulse, or, as they term it, experience. If 
you preach up to ploughmen and artisans, that every singular 
feeling which comes across them is a visitation of the Divine 
Spirit—can there be any difficulty, wnder the influence of this 
nonsense, in converting these simple creatures into active and 
mysterious fools, and making them your slaves for life? It is 
not possible to raise up any dangerous enthusiasm, by telling 
men to be just, and good, and charitable; but keep this part of 


METHODISM. 99 


Christianity out of sight—and talk long and enthusiastically 
before ignorant people, of the mysteries of our religion, and 
you will not fail to attract a crowd of followers :—verily the 
Tabernacle loveth not that which is simple, intelligible, and 
leadeth to good sound practice. 

Having endeavoured to point out the spirit which pervades 
these people, we shall say a few words upon the causes, the 
effects, and the cure of this calamity.—The fanaticism so 
prevalent in the present day, is one of those evils from which 
society is never wholly exempt; but which bursts out at dif- 
ferent periods, with peculiar violence, and sometimes over- 
whelms every thing in its course. ‘The last eruption took 
place about a century and a half ago, and destroyed both 
Church and Throne with its tremendous force. Though irre- 
sistible, it was short; enthusiasm spent its force—the usual 
recreation took place; and England was deluged with ribaldry 
and indecency, because it had been worried with fanatical re- 
strictions. By degrees, however, it was found out that ortho- 
doxy and loyalty might be secured by other methods than 
licentious conduct and immodest conversation. ‘The public 
morals improved; and there appeared as much good sense and 
moderation upon the subject of religion as ever can be expected 
from mankind in large masses. Still, however, the mischief 
which the Puritans had done was not forgotten; a general sus- 
picion prevailed of the dangers of religious enthusiasm ; and 
the fanatical preacher wanted his accustomed power among a 
people recently recovered from a religious war, and guarded by 
songs, proverbs, popular stories, and the general tide of humour 
and opinion, against all excesses of that nature. About the 
middle of the last century, however, the character of the 
genuine fanatic was a good deal forgotten, and the memory 
of the civil wars worn away; the field was clear for extra- 
vagance in piety; and causes, which must always produce 
an immense influence upon the mind of man, were left to their 
Own unimpeded operations. Religion is so noble and power- 
ful a consideration—it is so buoyant and so insubmergible— 
that it may be made, by fanatics, to carry with it any degree 
of error and of perilous absurdity. In this instance Messrs. 
Whitfield and Wesley happened to begin. ‘They were men 
of considerable talents; they observed the common decorums 
of life; they did not run naked into the streets, or pretend to 
the prophetical character ;—and thereforé they were not com- 


100 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


mitted to Newgate. They preached with great energy to weak 
people; who first stared—then listened—then believed—then 
felt the inward feeling of grace, and became as foolish as their 
teachers could possibly wish them to be;—in short, folly ran 
its ancient course,—and human nature evinced itself to be what 
it always has been under similar circumstances. The great 
and permanent cause, therefore, of the increase of Methodism, 
is the cause which has given birth to fanaticism in all ages,— 
the facility of mingling human errors with the fundamental 
truths of religion. The formerly imperfect residence of the 
clergy may, perhaps, in some trifling degree, have aided this 
source of Methodism. But unless a man of education, and a 
gentleman, could stoop to such disingenuous arts as the Method- 
ist preachers, unless he hears heavenly music all of a sudden, 
and enjoys sweet experiences,—it is quite impossible that he 
can contend against such artists as these. More active than 
they are at present the clergy might perhaps be: but the calm- 
ness and moderation of an Establishment can never possibly 
be a match for sectarian activity.—If the common people are 
ennui’d with the fine acting of Mrs. Siddons, they go to Sadler’s 
Wells. The subject is too serious for ludicrous comparisons: 
—but the Tabernacle really is to the Church, what Sadler’s 
Wells is to the Drama. ‘There, popularity is gained by vault- 
ing and tumbling,—by low arts, which the regular clergy are 
not too idle to have recourse to, but too dignified: their insti- 
tutions are chaste and severe,—they endeavour to do that 
which, upon the whole, and for a great number of years, will 
be found to be the most. admirable and the most useful: it is no 
part of their plan to descend to small artifices for the sake of 
present popularity and effect. ‘The religion of the common 
people under the government of the Church may remain as it 
is for ever ;—enthusiasm must be progressive, or it will expire. 
It is probable that the dreadful scenes which have lately been 
acted in the world, and the dangers to which we are exposed, 
have increased the numbers of the Methodists. ‘To what de- 
gree will Methodism extend in this country ?—This question 
is not easy to answer. ‘That it has rapidly increased within 
these few years, we have no manner of doubt; and we confess 
we cannot see what is likely to impede its progress. The 
party which it has formed in the Legislature; and the artful 
neutrality with which they give respectability to their small 
number,—the talents of some of this party, and the unimpeached 


METHODISM. 101 


excellence of their characters, all make it probable that fanati- 
cism will increase rather than diminish. ‘The Methodists have 
made an alarming inroad into the Church, and they are attack- 
ing the army and navy. ‘The principality of Wales, and the 
East India Company, they have already acquired. All mines 
and subterraneous places belong to them; they creep into hos- 
pitals and small schools, and so work their way upwards. It 
is the custom of the religious neutrals to beg all the little livings, 
particularly in the north of England, from the minister for the 
time being; and from these fixed points they make incursions 
upon the happiness and common sense of the vicinage. We 
most sincerely deprecate such an event; but it will excite in 
us no manner of surprise, if a period arrives when the churches 
of the sober and orthodox part of the English clergy are com- 
pletely deserted by the middling and lower classes of the com- 
munity. We donot prophesy any such event; but we contend 
that it is not impossible,—hardly improbable. If such, in 
future, should be the situation of this country, it is impossible, 
to say what political animosities may not be ingrafted upon 
this marked and dangerous division of mankind into the godly 
and the ungodly. At all events, we are quite sure that happi- 
ness will be destroyed, reason degraded, sound religion ban- 
ished from the world; and that when fanaticism becomes too 
foolish and too prurient to be endured (as is at last sure to be 
the case,) it will be succeeded by a long period of the grossest 
immorality, atheism and debauchery. 

We are not sure that this evil admits of any cure,—or of 
any considerable palliation. We most sincerely hope that the 
government of this country will never be guilty of such indis- 
cretion as to tamper with the Toleration Act, or to attempt to 
put down these follies by the intervention of the law. If experi- 
ence has taught us any thing, it is the absurdity of controlling 
men’s notions of eternity by acts of Parliament. Something 
may perpaps be done, in the way of ridicule, towards turning 
the popular opinion. It may be as well to extend the privi- 
leges of the dissenters to the members of the Church of 
England; for, as the law now stands, any man who dissents 
from the established church may opena place of worship where 
he pleases. No orthodox clergyman can do so, without the 
consent of the parson of the parish,—who always refuses, 
because he does not choose to have his monopoly disturbed ; 
and refuses in parishes where there are not accommodations 


102 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


for one half of the persons who wish to frequent the Church 
of England, and in instances where he knows that the chapels 
from which he excludes the established worship, will be imme- 
diately occupied by sectaries. It may be as well to encourage 
in the early education of the clergy, as Mr. Ingram recom- 
mends, a better and more animated method of preaching; and 
it may be necessary, hereafter, if the evil gets to a great height, 
_ to relax the articles of the English church, and to admit a 
greater variety of Christians within the pale. The greatest 
and best of all remedies is perhaps the education of the poor; 
—we are astonished, that the Established Church of England 
is not awake to this mean of arresting the progress of Method- 
ism. Of course, none of these things will be done; nor is it 
clear, if they were done, they would do much good. What- 
ever happens, we are for common sense and orthodoxy. ~ 
Insolence, servile politics, and the spirit of persecution, we 
condemn and attack, whenever we observe them ;—but to the 
learning, the moderation, and the rational piety of the Establish- 
ment, we most earnestly wish a decided victory over the non- 
sense, the melancholy, and the madness of the 'Tabernacle.* 
God send that our wishes be not in vain. 


* There is one circumstance to which we have neglected to advert 
in the proper place,—the dreadful pillage of the earnings of the poor 
which is made by the Methodists. A case is mentioned in one of the 
Numbers of these two magazines for 1807, of a poor man witha family, 
earning only twenty-eight shillings a week, who has made two dona- 
tions of ten guineas each to the missionary fund! 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 103 


INDIAN MISSIONS. (Enrnsurcu Review, 1808.) 


Considerations on the Policy of communicating the Knowledge of Chris- 
tianity to the Natives in India. By a late Resident in Bengal. Lon- 
don. Hatchard, 1807. 


An Address to the Chairman of the East India Company, occasioned by 
Mr. Twining’s Letter to that Gentleman. By the Rev. John Owen. 
London. Hatchard. 


A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, on the Danger of 
interfering in the religious Opinions of the Natives of India. By 
Thomas Twining. London. Ridgeway. 


Vindication of the Hindoos. By a Bengal Officer. London. Rodwell. 
Letter to John Scott Waring. London. Hatchard. 
Cunningham’s Christianity in India. London, Hatchard. 


Answer to Major Scott Waring. Extracted from the Christian Ob- 
server. 


Observations on the Present State of the East India Company. By Major 
Scott Waring. Ridgeway. London. 


AT two o'clock in the morning, July the 10th, 1806, the Eu- 
ropean barracks, at Vellore, containing then four complete com- 
panies of the 69th regiment, were surrounded by two battalions 
of Sepoys in the Company’s service, who poured in an heavy 
fire of musketry, at every door and window, upon the soldiers: 
at the same time the European sentries, the soldiers at the 
main-guard, and the sick in the hospital, were put to death; 
the officers’ houses were ransacked, and every body found in 
them murdered. Upon the arrival of the 19th Light Dragoons 
under Colonel Gillespie, the Sepoys were immediately at- 
tacked; 600 cut down upon the spot; and 200 taken from their 
hiding places, and shot. There perished, of the four European 
companies, about 164, besides officers; and many British 
officers of the native troops were murdered by the insurgents. 


104 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Subsequent to this explosion, there was a mutiny at Nun- 
dydroog ; and, in one day, 450 Mahomedan Sepoys were dis- 
armed, and turned out of the fort, on the ground of an intended 
massacre. It appeared, also, from the information of the com- 
manding officer at Tritchinopoly, that, at that period, a spirit 
of disaffection had manifested itself at Bangalore, and other 
places; and seemed to gain ground in every direction. On 
the 3d of December, 1806, the government of Madras issued 
the following proclamation :— 


‘a PROCLAMATION. 


‘The Right Hon. the Governor in Council, having observed that, 
in some late instances, an extraordinary degree of agitation has pre- 
vailed among several corps of the native army of this coast, it has 
been his Lordship’s particular endeavour to ascertain the motives 
which may have led to conduct so different from that which formerly 
distinguished the native army. From this inquiry, it has appeared 
that many persons of evil intention have endeavoured, for malicious 
purposes, to impress upon the native troops a belief that it is the wish 
of the British government to convert them by forcible means to Chris- 
tianity; and his Lordship in Council has observed with concern, that 
such malicious reports have been believed by many of the native 
troops. 

: The Right Hon. the Governor in Council, therefore, deems it proper, 
in this public manner, to repeat to the native troops his assurance, that 
the same respect which has been invariably shown by the British go- 
vernment for their religion and for their customs, will be always con- 
tinued; and that no interruption will be given to any native, whether 
Hindoo or Mussulman, in the practice of his religious ceremonies. 

‘His Lordship in Council desires that the native troops will not give 
belief to the idle rumours which are circulated by enemies of their 
happiness, who endeavour, with the basest designs, to weaken the con- 
fidence of the troops in the British government. His Lordship in 
Council desires that the native troops will remember the constant at- 
tention and humanity which have been shown by the British govern- 
ment, in providing for their comfort, by augmenting the pay of the 
native officers and Sepoys; by allowing liberal pensions to those who 
have done their duty faithfully; by making ample provision for the 
families of those who may have died in battle; and by receiving their 
children into the service of the Honourable Company, to be treated 
with the same care and bounty as their fathers had experienced. 

‘The Right Hon. the Governor in Council trusts, that the native 
troops, remembering these circumstances, will be sensible of the hap- 
piness of their situation, which is greater than what the troops of any 
other part of the world enjoy; and that they will continue to observe 
the same good conduct for which they were distinguished in the days 
of Gen. Lawrence, of Sir Eyre Coote, and of other renowned heroes. 

‘The native troops must at the same time be sensible, that if they 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 105 


should fail in the duties of their allegiance, and should show them- 
selves disobedient to their officers, their conduct will not fail to receive 
merited punishment, as the British government is not less prepared to 
punish the guilty, than to protect and distinguish those who are de- 
serving of its favour. 

‘It is directed that this paper be translated with care into the Tamul, 
Telinga, and Hindoostany languages; and that copies of it be circu- 
lated to each native battalion, of which the European officers are en- 
joined and ordered to be careful in making it known to every native 
officer and Sepoy under his command. 

‘It is also directed, that copies of the paper be circulated to all the 
magistrates and collectors under this government, for the purpose of 
being fully understood in all parts of the country. 

‘Published by order of the Right Hon. the Governor in Council. 

‘G. Bucnan, Chief Secretary to Government. 


‘Dated in Fort St. George, 3d Dec. 1806. 
Scott Waring’s Preface, iiii—v. 


So late as March 1807, three months after the date of this 
proclamation, so universal was the dread of a general revolt 
among the native troops, that the British officers attached to 
the native troops constantly slept with loaded pistols under 
their pillows. 

It appears that an attempt had been made by the military 
men at Madras, to change the shape of the Sepoy turban into 
something resembling the helmet of the light infantry of Eu- 
rope, and to prevent the native troops from wearing, on their 
foreheads, the marks characteristic of their various castes. 
The sons of the late ‘Tippoo, with many noble Mussulmen 
deprived of office at that time, resided in the fortress of Vel- 
lore, and in all probability contributed very materially to ex- 
cite, or to inflame those suspicions of designs against their 
religion, which are mentioned in the proclamation of the Ma- 
dras government, and generally known to have been a princi- 
pal cause of the insurrection at Vellore. It was this insurrec- 
tion which first gave birth to the question upon missions to 
India; and before we deliver any opinion upon the subject 
itself, it will be necessary to state what had been done in 
former periods towards disseminating the truths of the gospel 
in India, and what new exertions had been made about the 
period at which this event took place. 

More than a century has elapsed since the first Protestant 
missionaries appeared in India. ‘Two young divines, selected 
by the University of Halle, were sent out in this capacity by 

VOL. I1.—8 


106 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the King of Denmark, and arrived at the Danish settlement of 
Tranquebar in 1706. ‘The mission thus begun, has been ever 
since continued, and has been assisted by the Society for the 
Promotion of Christian Knowledge established in this country. 
The same Society has, for many years, employed German 
missionaries, of the Lutheran persuasion, for propagating the 
doctrines of Christianity among the natives of India. In 1799, 
their number was six; it is now reduced to five. 

The Scriptures translated into the Tamulic language, which 
is vernacular in the southern parts of the peninsula, have, for 
more than half a century, been printed at the ‘Tranquebar 
press, for the use of Danish missionaries and their converts. 
A printing press, indeed, was established at that place by the 
two first Danish missionaries ; and, in 1714, the Gospel of St. 
Matthew, translated into the dialect of Malabar, was printed 
there. Nota line of the Scriptures, in any of the languages 
current on the coast, had issued from the Bengal press on 
September 13, 1806. 

It does appear, however, about the period of the mutiny at 
Vellore, and a few years previous to it, that the number of the 
missionaries on the coast had been increased. In 1804, the 
Missionary Society, a recent institution, sent a new mission 
to the coast of Coromandel; from whose papers, we think it 
right to lay before our readers the following extracts.* 


‘ March 31st, 1805.—Waited on A.B. He says, Government seems 
to be very willing to forward our views. We may stay at Madras as 
long as we please; and when-we intend to go into the country, on our 
application to the governor by letter, he would issue orders for grant- 
ing us passports, which would supersede the necessity of a public pe- 
tition.—Lord’s Day.’— Trans. of Miss. Society, I. p. 365. 


In a letter from Brother Ringletaube to Brother Cran, he 
thus expresses himself:— 


‘The passports Government has promised you are so valuable, that 
I should not think a journey too troublesome to obtain one for myself, 
if I could not get it through your interference. In hopes that your ap- 


* There are six societies in England for converting Heathens to the 
Christian religion. 1. Society for Missions to Africa and the East; of 
which Messrs. Wilberforce, Grant, Parry, and Thorntons, are the prin- 
cipal encouragers. 2. Methodist Society for Missions. 3. Anabap- 
tist Society for Missions. 4. Missionary Society. 5. Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge. 6. Moravian Missions. They all 
publish their proceedings. 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 107 


plication will suffice to obtain one for me, I enclose you my Gravesend 
passport, that will give you the particulars concerning my person.’— 
Trans. of Miss. Society, Il. p. 369. 


They obtain their passports from Government; and the plan 
and objects of their mission are printed, free of expense, at the 
Government press. 


©1805, June 27, Dr. sent for one of us to consult with him on 
particular business. He accordingly went. The Doctor told him, 
that he had read the publications which the brethren lately brought 
from England, and was so much delighted with the report of the Di- 
rectors, that he wished 200 or more copies of it were printed, together 
with an introduction, giving an account of the rise and progress of the 
Missionary Society, in order to be distributed in the different settle- 
ments in India. He offered to print them at the Government press free 
of expense. On his return, we consulted with our two brethren on the 
subject, and resolved to accept the Doctor’s favour. We have begun 
to prepare it for the press. — Trans. of Miss. Society, II. p. 394. 


In page 89th of the 18th Number, Vol. III., the Mission- 
aries write thus to the Society in London, about a fortnight 
before the massacre at Vellore. 





‘Every encouragement is offered us by the established government 
of the country. Hitherto they have granted us every request, whether 
solicited by ourselves or others. Their permission to come to this 
place; their allowing us an acknowledgment for preaching in the fort, 
which sanctions us in our work; together with the grant which they 
have lately given us to hold a large spot of ground every way suited 
for missionary labours, are objects of the last importance, and remove 
every impediment which might be apprehended from this source. 
We trust not to an arm of flesh; but when we reflect on these things, 
we cannot but behold the loving kindness of the Lord.’ 


In a letter of the same date, we learn, from Brother Ringle- 
taube, the following fact :— 

‘The Dewan of Travancore sent me word, that if I despatched one 
of our Christians to him, he would give me leave to build a church at 
Magilandy. Accordingly, I shall send ina short time. For this im- 
portant service, our society is indebted alone to Colonel , with- 
out whose determined and fearless interposition, none of their missionaries 
would have been able to set a foot in that country.’ 


In page 381, Vol. II., Dr. Kerr, one of the chaplains on 
the Madras establishment, baptizes a Mussulman who had 
applied to him for that purpose; upon the first application, it 
appears that Dr. Kerr hesitated; but upon the Mussulman 
threatening to rise against him on the day of judgment, Dr. 
Kerr complies. 





108 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


It appears that in the Tinevelly district, about a year before 
the massacre of Vellore, not only riots, but very serious per- 
secutions of the converted natives had taken place, from the 
jealousy evinced by the Hindoos and Mussulmen at the pro- 
gress of the gospel. 


‘“ Rev. Sir,—I thought you sufficiently acquainted with the late vex- 
ations of the Christians in those parts, arising from the blind zeal of 
the Heathens and Mahometans; the latter viewing with a jealous eye 
the progress of the gospel, and trying to destroy, or at least to clog it, 
by all the crafty means in their power. I therefore did not choose to 
trouble .you; but as no stop has been put to these grievances, things 
go on from bad to worse, as you will see from what has happened at 
Hickadoe. 'The Catechist has providentially escaped from that out- 
rageous attempt, by the assistance of ten or twelve of our Christians, 
and has made good his flight to Palamcotta; whilst the exasperated 
mob, coming from Padeckepalloe, hovered round the village, plunder- 
ing the houses of the Christians, and ill-treating their families, by 
kicking, flogging, and other bad usage; these monsters not even for- 
bearing to attack, strip, rob, and miserably beat the Catechist Jesuadian, 
who, partly from illness and partly through fear, had shut himself up in 
his house. I have heard various accounts of this sad event; but yes- 
terday the Catechist himself called on me, and told me the truth of it. 
From what he says, it is plain that the Manikar of Wayrom (a Black 
peace-oflicer of that place) has contrived the whole affair, with a view 
to vex the Christians. I doubt not that these facts have been reported 
to the Rev. Mr.K. by the country-priest; and if I mention them to you, 
it is with a view to show in what a forlorn state the poor Christians 
hereabout are, and how desirable a thing it would be, if the Rev. Mr. 
Ringletaube were to come hither as soon as possible; then tranquillity 
would be restored, and future molestations prevented. I request you 
to communicate this letter to him with my compliments. I am, sir, 
&c. Manapaar, June 8, 1805.” ; 

‘This letter left a deep impression on my mind, especially when I 
received a fuller account of the troubles of the Christians. By the 
Black underlings of the Collectors, they are frequently driven from 
their homes, put in the stocks, and exposed for a fortnight together to 
the heat of the raging sun,and the chilling dews of the night, all because 
there is no European Missionary to bring their complaints to the ear of 
Government, who, Iam happy to add, have never been deficient in 
their duty of procuring redress, where the Christians have had to 
complain of real injuries. One of the most trying cases, mentioned 
in a postscript of the above letter, is that of Christians being flogged 
till they consent to hold the torches to the Heathen idols. ‘The letter 
says, “the Catechist of Collesigrapatuam has informed me, that the 
above Manikar has forced a Christian, of the Villally caste, who at- 
tends atour church, to sweep the temple of the idol. A severe flog- 
ging was given on this occasion.”—From such facts, the postscript 
continues, “ You may guess at the deplorable situation of our fellow- 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 109 


believers, as long as every Manikar thinks he has a right to do them 
what violence he pleases.” 

‘It must be observed, to the glory of that Saviour who is strong in 
weakness, that many of the Neophytes in that district have withstood 
‘all these fiery trials with firmness. Many also, it is to be lamented, 
have fallen off in the evil day, and at least so far yielded to the im- 
portunity of their persecutors, as again to daub their faces with paint 
and ashes, after the manner of the Heathen. How great this falling 
off has been I am not yet able to judge. Butlam happy to add, that 
the Board of Revenue has issued the strictest orders against all un- 
provoked persecution.’— Trans. of Miss Society, I. 431—433. 


The following quotations evince how far from indifferent 


the natives are to the progress of the Christian religion in the 
Fast. 


£1805. Oct. 10—A respectable Brahmin in the Company’s employ 
called on us. We endeavoured to point out to him the important ob- 
ject of our coming to India, and mentioned some of the great and glo- 
rious truths of the gospel, which we wished to impart in the native 
language. He seemed much hurt, and told us the Gentoo religion was 
of a divine origin as well as the Christian ;—that heaven was like a 
palace which had many doors, at which people may enter ;—that vari- 
etyis pleasing to God, &c.—and a number of other arguments which 
we hear every day. On taking leave, he said, “the Company has got 
the country, (for the English are very clever,) and, perhaps, they may 
succeed in depriving the Brahmins of their power, and let you have 
ite 

‘ November 16th.—Received a letter from the Rev. Dr. Taylor; we 
are happy to find he is safely arrived at Calcutta, and that our Bap- 
tist brethren are labouring with increasing success. The natives 
around us are astonished to hear this news. Itis bad news to the 
Brahmins, who seem unable to account for it; they say the world is 
going to ruin. — Trans. of Miss. Society, Il. 442 & 446. 

‘While living in the town, our house was watched by the natives 
from morning to night, to see if any person came to converse about 
religion. This prevented many from coming, who have been very 
desirous of hearing of the good way. —Trans. of Miss. Society, No. 18, 

. 87, 

* If Heathen, of great influence and connections, or Brahmins, were 
inclined to join the ChristiawChurch, it would probably cause com- 
motions and even rebellions, either to prevent them from it, or to en- 
danger their life. In former years, we had some instances of this 
kind at Tranquebar; where they were protected by the assistance of 
government. If such instances should happen now in our present 
times, we don’t. know what the consequence would be.—Trans. of 
Miss. Society, Il. 185. 


This last extract is contained in a letter from Danish Mis- 
sionaries at ‘Tranquebar to the Directors of the Missionary 
Society at London. 


110 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


It is hardly fair to contend, after these extracts, that no 
symptoms of jealousy upon the subject of religion had been 
evinced on the coast, except in the case of the insurrection at 
Vellore; or that no greater activity than common had pre- 
vailed among the missionaries. We are very far, however, 
from attributing that insurrection exclusively, or even princi- 
pally, to any apprehensions from the zeal of the missionaries. 
The rumour of that zeal might probably have more readily 
disposed the minds of the troops for the corrupt influence 
exercised upon them ; but we have no doubt that the massacre 
was principally owing to an adroit use made by the sons of 
Tippoo, and the high Mussulmen living in the fortress, of the 
abominable military foppery of our own people. 

After this short sketch of what has been lately passing on 
the coast, we shall attempt to give a similar account of mis- 
sionary proceedings in Bengal; and it appears to us, it will be 
more satisfactory to do so as much as possible in the words 
of the missionaries themselves. In our extracts from their 
publications, we shall endeavour to show the character and 
style of the men employed in these missions, the extent of 
their success, or rather of their failure, and the general impres- 
sion made upon the people by their efforts for the dissemina- 
tion of the gospel. 

It will be necessary to premise, that the missions in Bengal, 
of which the public have heard so much of late years, are the 
missions of Anabaptist dissenters, whose peculiar and distin- 
guishing tenet it is, to baptize the members of their church by 
plunging them into the water when they are grown up, instead 
of sprinkling them with water when they are young. Among 
the subscribers to this society, we perceive the respectable 
name of the Deputy Chairman of the East India Company, 
who, in the common routine of office, will succeed to the 
Chair of that Company at the ensuing election. ‘The Chair- 
man and Deputy Chairman of the East India Company, are 
also both of them trustees to another religious society for mis- 
sions to Africa and the East. 

The first Number of the Anabaptist Missions informs us 
that the origin of the Society will be found in the workings of 
Brother Carey’s mind, whose heart appears to have been set 
upon the conversion of the Heathen in 1786, before he came 
to reside at Moulton. (No. I. p. 1.) These workings pro- 
duced a sermon at Northampton, and the sermon a subscription 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 111 


to convert 420 millions of Pagans. Of the subscription we 
have the following account: ‘Information is come from Bro- 
ther Carey, that a gentleman from Northumberland had pro- 
mised to send him 20/, for the Society, and to subscribe four 
guineas annually.’ 


‘At this meeting at Northampton two other friends subscribed, and 
paid two guineas a-piece, two more one guinea each, and another 
half a guinea, making six guineas and a half in all. And such mem- 
bers as were present of the first subscribers, paid their subscriptions 
into the hands of the treasurer; who proposed to put the sum now 
received into the hands of a banker, who will pay interest for the same.’ 
—Bapt. Miss. Soc. No. I. p.5. 


In their first proceedings they are a good deal guided by 
Brother Thomas, who has been in Bengal before, and who 
lays before the Society an history of his life and adventures, 
from which we make the following extract :— 


‘On my arrival in Calcutta, I sought for religious people, but found 
none. At last, how was I rejoiced to hear that a very religious man 
was coming to dine with meat a house in Calcutta; a man who would 
not omit his closet -hours, of a morning or evening, at sea or on land, 
for all the world. I concealed my impatience as well as I could, till 
the joyful moment came: and a moment it was, for I soon heard him 
take the Lord’s name in vain, and it was like a cold dagger, with 
which I received repeated stabs in the course of half an hour’s con- 
versation: and he was ready to kick me when I spoke of some things 
commonly believed by other hypocrites, concerning our Lord Jesus 
Christ; and with fury put an end to our conversation, by saying I was 
a mad enthusiast, to suppose that Jesus Christ had any thing to do in 
the creation of the world, who was born only seventeen hundred years 
ago. When I returned, he went home in the same ship, and I found 
him a strict observer of devotional hours, but an enemy to all religion, 
and horribly loose, vain, and intemperate in his life and conversation. 

‘After this J advertised for a Christian ; and that I may not be mis- 
understood, I shall subjoin a copy of the advertisement, from the 
Indian Gazette of November 1, 1783, which now lies before me’”— 
Bapt. Miss. Soc. No. I. p. 14, 15. 


Brother Thomas relates the Conversion of an Hindoo on the Malabar 
Coast to the Society. 


‘A certain man, on the Malabar coast, had inquired of various de- 
votees and priests, how he might make atonement for his sins; and 
at last he was directed to drive iron spikes, sufficiently blunted, through 
his sandals, and on these spike he was to place his naked feet, and 
walk (if I mistake not) 250 coss, that is about 480 miles. If, through 
loss of blood, or weakness of body, he was obliged to halt, he might 
wait for healing and strength. He undertook the journey; and while 
he halted under a large shady tree where the gospel was sometimes 


112 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


preached, one of the missionaries came, and preached in his hearing 
from these words, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. 
While he was preaching, the man rose up, threw off his torturing san- 
dals, and cried out aloud, “ This is what I want!” ’—Bapt. Miss. Soc. 
No. I. p. 29. 


On June 13, 1793, the missionaries set sail, carrying with 
them letters to three supposed converts of Brother Thomas, 
Parbotee, Ram Ram Boshoo, and Mohun Chund. Upon their 
arrival in India, they found, to their inexpressible mortification, 
that Ram Ram had relapsed into Paganism: and we shall pre- 
sent our readers with a picture of the present and worldly 
misery to which an Hindoo is subjected, who becomes a con- 
vert to the Christian religion. very body knows that the 
population of Hindostan is divided into castes, or classes of 
persons; and that when a man loses his caste, he is shunned 
by his wife, children, friends, and relations; that it is consi- 
dered as an abomination to lodge or eat with him ; and that he 
is a wanderer and an outcast upon the earth. Caste can be 
lost by a variety of means, and the Protestant missionaries 
have always made the loss of it a previous requisite to admis- 
sion into the Christian church. 


‘On our arrival at Calcutta, we found poor Ram Boshoo waiting for 
us: but, to our great grief, he has been bowing down to idols again. 
When Mr. T. left India, he went from place to place; but, forsaken by 
the Hindoos, and neglected by the Europeans, he was seized with a 
flux and fever. In this state, he says, “I had nothing to support me 
or my family; a relation offered to save me from perishing for want 
of necessaries, on condition of my bowing to the idol; I knew that the 
Roman Catholic Christians worshipped idols; I thought they might be 
commanded to honour images in some part of the Bible which I had 
not seen; I hesitated, and complied; but I love Christianity still.”’— 
Bapt. Miss. Soc. Vol. I. p. 64, 65 

‘Jan. 8,1794.. We thought to write you long before this, but our 
hearts have been burthened with cares and sorrows. It was very 
afflicting to hear of Ram Boshoo’s great persecution and fall. Deserted 
by. Englishmen, and persecuted by his own countrymen, he was nigh 
unto death. The natives gathered in bodies, and threw dust in the air 
as he passed along the streets in Calcutta. At last one of his rela- 
tions offered him an asylum on condition of his bowing down to their 
idols.’ —Bapt. Miss. Soc. Vol. I. p. 78. 


Brother Carey’s Piety at Sea. 

‘Brother Carey, while very sea-sick, and leaning over the ship to 
relieve his stomach from that very oppressive complaint, said his mind 
was even then filled with consolation in contemplating the wonderful 
goodness of God,’ —lJbid. p. 76. . 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 113 


Extracts from Brother Carey’s and Brother Thomas’s Journals, at sea 
“ and by land. 


‘1793. June 16. Lord’s Day. A little recovered from my sickness; 
met for prayer and exhortation in my cabin; had a dispute witha 
French deist.’—Ibdid. p. 158. 

: 30. Lord’s Day. A pleasant and profitable day: our congre- 
gation composed of ten persons.’—ZJbid. p. 159. 

‘July 7. Another pleasant and profitable Lord’s-day; our congre- 
gation increased with one. Had much sweet enjoyment with God.— 
Ibid. 

‘1794. Jan. 26. Lord’s Day. Found much pleasure in reading Ed- 
wards’ Sermon on the Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners’— 
Ibid. p. 165. 

‘April6. Had some sweetness to-day, especially in reading Ed- 
wards’ Sermon.’—lIbid. p. 171. 

‘June 8. This evening reached Bowlea, where we lay to for the 
Sabbath. Felt thankful that God had preserved us, and wondered at 
his regard for so mean a creature. I was unable to wrestle with God 
in prayer for many of my dear friends in England.’—Jzid. p. 179. 

‘ 16. This day I preached twice at Malda, where Mr. Thomas 
met me. Had muchenjoyment; and though our congregation did not 
exceed sixteen, yet the pleasure I felt in having my tongue once more 
set at liberty, I can hardly describe. Was enabled to be faithful, and 
felt a sweet affection for immortal souls.’—ZJbd. p. 180. 

‘1796. Feb. 6.. I am now in my study; and oh, it is a sweet place, 
because of the presence of God with the vilestof men. It isat the top 
of the house; I have but one window in it.—lJbid. p. 295. 

‘The work to which God has set his hand will infallibly prosper. 
Christ has begun to bombard this strong and ancient fortress, and will 
assuredly carry it.’—Bapt. Miss. Vol. I. p. 328. 

‘More missionaries I think absolutely necessary to the support of the 
interest. Should any natives join us, they would become outcast im- 
mediately, and must be consequently supported byus. The mission- 
aries on the coast are to this day obliged to provide for those who join 
them, as I learn from a letter sent to Brother Thomas by a son of one 
of the missionaries.’—IJbid. p. 334. 








In the last extract our readers will perceive a new difficulty 
attendant upon the progress of Christianity in the East. The 
convert must not only be subjected to degradation, but his 
degradation is so complete, and his means of providing for 
himself so entirely destroyed, that he must be fed by his in- 
structor. ‘The slightest success in Hindostan would eat up 
the revenues of the East India Company. 

Three years after their arrival these zealous and. most active 
missionaries give the following account of their success. 


‘I bless God, our prospect is considerably brightened up, and our 


114 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


hopes are more enlarged than at any period since the commencement 
of the mission, owing to very pleasing appearances of the gospel 
having been made effectual to rour poor labouring Mussulmen, who 
have been setting their faces towards Zion ever since the month of 
August last. I hope their baptism will not be much longer deferred; 
and that might encourage Mohun Chund, Parbottee, and Cassi Naut 
(who last year appeared to set out in the ways of God), to declare for 
the Lord Jesus Christ, by an open profession of their faith in him, 
Seven of the natives, we hope, are indeed converted.’—Bapt. Miss. Vol. 
I, p. 345, 346. 


Effects of Preaching to an Hindoo Congregation. 


‘I then told them, that if they could not tell me, I would tell them ; 
and that God, who had permitted the Hindoos to sink into a sea of 
darkness, had at length commiserated them; and sent me and my col- 
leagues to preach life to them. I then told them of Christ, his death, 
his person, his love, his being the surety of sinners, his power to save, 
&c., and exhorted them earnestly and affectionately to come to him. 
Effects were various; one man came before I had well done, and 
wanted to sell stockings to me. —Bapt. Miss. Vol. I. p. 357. 


Extracts from Journals. 


‘After worship, I received notice that the printing-press was just 
arrived at the Ghat from Calcutta. Retired, and thanked God for fur- 
nishing us with a press.’—Ibid. p. 469. 


Success in the Sixth Year: 


‘We lament that several who did run well are now hindered. We 
have faint hopes of a few, and pretty strong hopes of one or two; but 
if I say more, it must either be a dull recital of our journeying to one 
place or another to preach the gospel, or something else relating to 
ourselves, of which I ought to be the last to speak.’—Jbid. p. 488. 


Extracts rrom Mr. Warn’s Journat, A NEW ANABAPTIST MIssION- 
ARY SENT ouT IN 1799. 


Mr. Ward admires the Captain. 


‘Several of our friends who have beensick begin to lookup. This 
evening we had a most precious hour at prayer. Captain Wickes 
read from the 12th verse of the 33d of Exodus, and then joined in 
prayer. Our hearts were all warmed. We shook hands with our 
dear Captain, and, in design, clasped him to our bosoms.’—Zdid. Vol. 
II. p.2. 


Mr. Ward is frightened by a Privateer. 


‘June 11. Held our conference this evening. A vessel is still pur- 
suing us, which the Captain believes tobea Frenchman. I feel some 
alarm: considerable alarm. Oh Lord, be thou our defender! the ves- 
sel seems to gain upon us. (Quarter past eleven at night.) There 
is no doubt of the vessel being a French privateer: when we changed 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 115 


our tack, she changed hers. We have, since dark, changed into our 
old course, so that possibly we shall lose her. Brethren G. and B, 
have engaged in prayer: we have read Luther’s psalm, and our minds 
are pretty well composed. Our guns-are all loaded, and the Captain 
seems very low. All hands are at the guns, and the matches are 
lighted. I go to the end of the ship. I can just see the vessel, though 
itis very foggy. A ball whizzes over my head, and makes me trem- 
ble. I go down, and go to prayer with our friends. —Bapt. Miss. Vol. 
II. p. 3, 4. 


Mr. Ward feels a regard for the Sailors. 


‘July 12. Inever felt so much for any men as for our sailors; a 
tenderness which could weep over them. Oh, Jesus! let thy blood 
cover some of them! A sweet prayer meeting. Verily God is here.’ 
—Ibid. p. 7. 


Mr. Ward sees an American Vessel, and longs to preach to the Sailors. 


‘Sept. 27. An American vessel is along-side, and the Captain is 
speaking to their Captain through histrumpet. How pleasant to talk 
toa friend! I have been looking at them through the glass; the sailors 
sit in a group, and are making their observations upon us. I long to 
go and preach to them.’— Ibid. p. 11. 


Feelings of the Natives upon hearing their Religion attacked. 


£1800. Feb. 25. Brother C. had some conversation with one of the 
Mussulmen, who asked, upon his denying the divine mission of Ma- 
hommed, what was to become of Mussulmen and Hindoos! Brother 
C. expressed his fears that they would all be lost. The man seemed 
as if he would have torn him to pieces.’—Ibid. p. 51. 

‘Mar. 30. The people seem quite anxious to get the hymns which 
we give away. The Brahmins are rather uneasy. The Governor ad- 
vised his Brahmins to send their children to learn English. They 
replied, that we seemed to take pains to make the natives Christians; 
and they were afraid that, their children being of tender age, would 
make them a more easy conquest.’—Ibid. p. 158. 

‘April 27. Lord’s Day. One Brahmin said, he had no occasion for 

a hymn, for they were all over the country. He could go into any 
house and read one.’—Jbid. p. 61. 
' ‘May 9. Brother Fountain was this evening at Buddabarry. At 
the close, the Brahmins having collected a number of boys, they set 
up a great shout, and followed the brethren out of the village with 
noise and shoutings.’—Jbid. 

‘May 16. Brother Carey and I were at Buddabarry this evening. 
No sooner had we begun, than a Brahmin went round to all the rest 
that were present, and endeavoured to pull them away.’—Bapt. Miss. 
Vol. IL. p. 62. : 

f 30. This evening at Buddabarry, the man mentioned in my 
journal of March 14th insulted Brother Carey. Heasked why we came; 
and said, if we could employ the natives as carpenters, blacksmiths, 
&c. it would be very well; but that they did not want our holiness, 





116 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


In exact conformity with this sentiment, our Brahmin told Brother 
Thomas when here, that he did not want the favour of God.’ — Ibid. 

. 63. 

: ‘June 22. Lord’s Day. A Brahmin has been several times to dis- 
turb the children, and to curse Jesus Christ! Another Brahmin com- 
plained to Brother Carey that, by our school and printing, we were 
now teaching the gospel to their children from their infancy.’-—Ibid. 
p- 65. 

‘June 29. Lord’s Day. This evening a Brahmin went round 
amongst the people who were collected to hear Brother Carey, to per- 
suade them not to accept of our papers. Thus “darkness struggles 
with the light.” ’—Jdid. p. 66. 

‘It was deemed advisable to print 2000 copies of the New Testa- 
ment, and also 500 additional copies of Matthew, for immediate 
distribution; to which are annexed some of the most remarkable 
prophecies in the Old Testament respecting Christ. These are now 
distributing, together with copies of several evangelical hymns, and 
avery earnest and pertinent address to the natives, respecting the 
gospel. It was written by Ram Boshoo, and contains a hundred 
lines in Bengalee verse. We hear that these papers are read with 
much attention, and that apprehensions are rising in the minds of 
some of the Brahmins whereunto these things may grow.’—Ibid. p. 
69. 

‘We have printed several small pieces in Bengalee, which have 
had a large circulation.’—Jvid. p. 77. 


Mr. Fountain’s gratitude to Hervey. 


‘When I was about eighteen or nineteen years of age Hervey’s 
Meditations fell into my hands. ‘Till then I had read nothing but my 
Bible and the prayer-book. ‘This ushered me as it were into a new 
world! It expanded my mind, and excited a thirst after knowledge: 
and this was not all; I derived spiritual as well as intellectual advan- 
tages from it. I shall bless God for this book while I live upon earth, 
and when I get to heaven, I will thank dear Hervey himself?—Bapt. Miss. 
Vol. IL. p. 90. 


Hatred of the Natives to the Gospel. 


‘Jan. 27. The inveterate hatred that the Brahmins every where 
show to the gospel, and the very name of Jesus, in which they are 
joined by many lewd fellows of the baser sort, requires no common 
degree of self-possession, caution, and prudence. The seeming fail- 
ure of some we hoped well of is a source of considerable anxiety and 
grief’—Jbid. p. 110. 

‘Aug. 31. Lord’s Day. We have the honour of ‘printing the first 
book that was ever printed in Bengalee; and this is the first piece in 
which Brahmins have been opposed, perhaps for thousands of years. 
All their books are filled with accounts to establish Brahminism, and 
raise Brahmins to the seat of God. Hence they are believed to be 
inferior gods. All the waters of salvation in the country are supposed 
to meet in the foot ofa Brahmin. It is reckoned they have the keys 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 117 


of heaven and hell,and have power over sickness and health, life and 
death. O pray that Brahminism may come down!—ZJbid. p. 111. 

‘Oct. 3. Brother Marshman having directed the children in the 
Bengalee school to write out a piece written by Brother Fountain (a 
kind of catechism), the schoolmaster reported yesterday that all the 
boys would leave the school rather than write it; that it was designed 
to make them lose caste, and make them Feringas; that is, persons 
who have descended from those who were formerly converted by the 
papists, and who are to this day held in the greatest contempt by the 
Hindoos. From this you may gather how much contempt a converted 
native would meet with. —Ibid. p- 113, 114. 

‘Oct. 26. Lord’s Day. Bharratt told Brother Carey to-day what the 
people talked among themselves—“ Formerly,” say they, “here were 
no white people amongstus. Now the English have taken the country, 
and it is getting full of whites. Now also the white man’s shaster is 
publishing. Is it not going to be fulfilled which is written in our shas- 
ters, that all shall be of one caste; and will not this caste be the gospel?’”’ 
—lIbid. p. 115. 

‘Nov. 7. He also attempted repeatedly to introduce Christ and him 
crucified; but they would immediately manifest the utmost dislike of 
the very name of him. WNay,in their turn they commended Creeshnoo, 
and invited Brother C. to believe in him.’—ZIdid. p..118. 

‘Dec. 23.. This forenoon Gokool came to tell us that Kristno and 
his whole family were in confinement! Astonishing news! It seems 
the whole neighbourhood, as soon as it was noised abroad that these 
people had lost caste, was in an uproar. It is said that two thousand 
people were assembled pouring their anathemas on these new con- 
verts. —Bapt. Miss. Vol. II. p. 125. 

‘Jan. 12. ‘The Brahmins and the young people show every degree 
of contempt; and the name of Christ is become a by-word, like the 
name methodist in England formerly.—Jbid. p. 130. 

‘Sept. 25. I then took occasion to tell them that the Brahmins only 
wanted their money, and cared nothing about theirsalvation. To this 
they readily assented.’—Ibid. p. 134. 

‘Nov.23. Lord’s Day. Went with Brother Carey to the new pagoda, 
at the upper end of the town. About ten Brahmins attended. They 
behaved in the most scoffing and blasphemous manner, treating the 
name of Christ with the greatest scorn; nor did they discontinue their 
ridicule while Brother Carey prayed with them. No name amongst 
men seems so offensive to them as that of our adorable Repermer !’ 
—Ibid. p. 138. 

‘Dec. 24. ‘The Governor had the goodness to call on us in the course 
of the day, and desired us to secure the girl, at least within our walls, 
for a few days, as he was persuaded the people round the country 
were so exasperated at Kristno’s embracing the gospel, that he could 
not answer for their safety. A number of the mob might come from 
twenty miles distant in the night, and murder them all, without the 
perpetrators being discovered. He believed, that had they obtained > 
the girl, they would have murdered her before the morning, and thought 
they had been doing God service !’—ZJbid. p. 143, 144, 


118 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘Jan. 30. After speaking about ten minutes, a rude fellow began 
to be very abusive, and, with the help of a few boys, raised such a Cla- 
mour that nothing could be heard. At length, seeing no hope of their 
becoming quiet, I retired tothe other partof the town. ‘They followed, 
hallooing, and crying “ Hurree boll!” (an exclamation in honour of 
Veeshno). They at last began to pelt me with stones and dirt. One 
of the men, who knew the house to which Brother Carey was gone, 
advised me to accompany him thither, saying, that these people would 
not hear our words. Going with him,I met BrotherC. We werenot 
alittle pleased that the devil had begun to bestir himself, inferring from 
hence that he suspected danger.’—Zbid. p. 148, 149. 


Feelings of an Hindoo Boy upon the eve of Conversion. 


‘Nov. 18. One of the boys of the school, called Benjamin, is under 
considerable concern; indeed there is a general stir amongst our chil- 
dren, which affords us great encouragement. ‘The following are some 
of the expressions used in prayer by poor Benjamin: — 

““ Oh Lord, the day of judgment is coming: the sun,.and moon, and 
stars will all fall down. Oh, what shall I do in the day of judgment! 
Thou wilt break me to pieces. [literal] The Lord Jesus Christ was 
so good as to die for us poor souls: Lord, keep us all this day! Oh 
hell! gnashing, and beating, and beating! One hour weeping, ano- 
ther gnashing! We shall stay there for ever! Iam going to hell: I 
am going to hell! O Lord, give me anew heart; give me anew 
heart; and wash away all my sins! Give mea new heart, that I may 
praise Him, that I may obey Him, that I may speak the truth, that I 
may never do evil things! Oh,I have many times sinned against 
thee, many times broken thy commandments, oh many times; and 
what shall I do in the day of judgment!” ’—-Bapt. Miss. Vol. Il. p. 162, 
163. 

Alarm of the Natives at the preaching of the Gospel. 


‘From several parts of Calcutta he hears of people’s attention being 
excited by reading the papers which we have scattered among them. 
Many begin to wonder that they never heard these things before, since 
the English have been so long in the country.’——Ibid. p. 223. . 

‘Many of the natives have expressed their astonishment at seeing 
the converted Hindoos sit and eat with Europeans. It is what they 
thought would never come to pass. The priests are much alarmed 
for their tottering fabric, and rack their inventions to prop it up. 
They do not like the institution of the college in Calcutta, and that 
their sacred shasters should be explored by the unhallowed eyes of 
Europeans.’—Jbid. p. 233. ' 

‘Indeed, by the distribution of many copies of the Scriptures, and 
of some thousands of small tracts, a spirit of inquiry has been excited 
to a degree unknown at any former period.’ —Jdid. p. 236. 

‘As he and Kristno walked through the street, the natives cried out, 
«What will this joiner do? (meaning Kristno.) Will he destroy the 
caste of us all? Is this Brahmin going to be a Feringa?” ’--lbid. p. 
245. 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 119 


Account of swecess in 1802—Tenth year of the Mission. 


‘Wherever we have gone we have uniformly found, that so Jong as 
people did not wnderstand the report of our message, they appeared to lis- 
ten; but the moment they understood something of it, they either became 
indifferent, or began to ridicule. This in general has been our reception.’ 
—Bapt. Miss. Vol. Il. p. 273. 


Hatred of the Natives. 


‘Sept. 27. ‘This forenoon three of the people arrived from Ponche- 
talokpool, who seemed very happy to see us. ‘They inform us that 
the Brahmins had raiseda great persecution against them; and when 
they set out on their journey hither, the mob assembled to hiss them 
away. After Brother Marshman had left that part of the country, they 
hung him in effigy, and some of the printed papers which he had dis- 
tributed amongst them.’—Ibid. p. 314. 


Difficulty which the Mission experiences from not being able to get Con- 
verts shaved. 


‘Several persons there seemed willing to be baptized: but if they 
should, the village barber, forsooth, will not shave them! When a na- 
tive loses his caste, or becomes unclean, his barber and his priest will 
not come near him; and as they are accustomed to shave the head 
nearly all over, and cannot well perform this business themselves, it 
becomes a serious inconvenience.’ —ZIbid. p. 372. 


Hatred of the Natives. 


‘Apr. 24. Lord’s Day. Brother Chamberlain preached at home, and 
Ward at Caleutta: Brother Carey was amongst the brethren, and 
preached at night. Kristno Prisaud, Ram Roteen, and others, were 
at Buddabatty, where they met with violent opposition. ‘They were 
set upon as Feringas, as destroyers of the caste, as having eaten fowls, 
eggs, &c. As they attempted to return, the mob began to beat them, 
putting their hands on the back of their necks, and pushing them for- 
ward; and one man, even a civil officer, grazed the point of a spear 
against the body of Kristno Prisaud. When they saw that they could 
not make our friends angry by such treatment, they said, You sadlla ; 
you will not be angry, will you?. They then insulted them again, 
threw cow-dung mixed in gonga water at them; talled of making them 
a necklace of old shoes; beat Neeloo with Ram Roteen’s shoe, &c.; 
and declared, that if they ever came again, they would make an end 
of them.’—Bapt. Miss. Vol. II. p. 378. 


A Plan for procuring an order from Government to shave the Converts. 


‘ After concluding with prayer, Bhorud Ghose, Sookur, and Torribot 
Bichess, took me into the field, and told me that their minds were quite 
decided; there was no necessity for exhorting them. ‘There was only 
one thing that kept them from being baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ. Losing caste in a large town like Serampore was a very dif- 
ferent thing from losing caste in their village. If they declared them- 


120 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


selves Christians, the barber of their village would no longer shave 
them; and, without shaving their heads and their beards, they could 
not live. If an order could be obtained from the magistrate of the dis- 
trict for the barber to shave Christians as well as others, they would 
be immediately baptized.’—Jbid. p. 397. 


We meet in these proceedings with the account of two Hin- 
doos who had set up as gods, Dulol and Ram Dass. ‘The 
missionaries, conceiving this schism from the religion of the 
Hindoos to be a very favourable opening for them, wait upon 
the two deities. With Dulol, who seems to be a very shrewd 
fellow, they are utterly unsuccessful; and the following is an 
extract from the account of their conference with Ram Dass :—- 


‘After much altercation, I told him he might put the matter out of 
all doubt as to himself: he had only to come as a poor, repenting, sup- 
pliant sinner, and he would be saved, whatever became of others. 'T’o 
this he gave no other answer than a smile of contempt. I then asked 
him in what way the sins of these his followers would be removed; 
urging it as a matter of the last importance, as he knew that they were 
all sinners, and must stand before the righteous bar of God? After 
much evasion, he replied that he had fire in his belly, which would 
destroy the sins of all his followers!’—Bapt. Miss. Vol. IIL. p. 401. 


A Brahmin Converted. 


‘ Dec.11. Lord’s Day. A Brahmin came from Nuddea. After talking 
to him about the gospel, which he said he was very willing to em- 
brace, we sent him to Kristno’s. He ate with them without hesitation, 
but discovered such a thirst for Bengalee rum, as gave them a disgust.’ 

‘Dec.13. This morning the Brahmin decamped suddenly.—Bapt. 
Miss. Vol. I. p. 424. 


Extent of Printing. 


‘Sept. 12. We are building an addition to our printing-office, where 
we employ seventeen printers and five book-binders.—The Brahmin 
from near Bootan gives some hope that he has received the truth in 
love.’ —Ibid. p. 483. 

‘The news of Jesus Christ, and of the church at Serampore, seems 
to have gone much further than I expected: it appears to be known to 

a few in most villages. —ZIbid. p. 487. 


Hatred to the Gospel. 

‘The caste (says Mr. W.) is the great millstone round the necks of 
these people. Roteen wants shaving; but the barber here will not 
do it. He is run away lest he should be compelled. He says he will 
not shave Yesoo Kreest’s people !—Jbid. p. 493. 


Success greater by importunity in prayer. 


‘With respect to their swecess, there are several particulars attend- 
ing it worthy of notice. One is, that 2f was preceded by a spirit of 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 121 


importunate prayer. The brethren had all along committed their cause 
to God: but in the autumn of 1800, they had a special weekly prayer- 
meeting for a blessing on the work of the mission. At these assem- 
blies, Mr. Thomas, who was then present on a visit, seems to have 
been more than usually strengthened to wrestle for a blessing; and 
writing to a friend in America, he speaks of “the holy unction ap- 
pearing on all the missionaries, especially of late; and of times of 
refreshing from the presence of the Lord, being solemn, frequent, and 
lasting.” In connecting these things, we cannot but remember that 
previous to the outpouring of the Spirit in the days of Pentecost, the 
disciples “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.”’ 
—Bapt. Miss. Pref. Vol. II. p. vii. 


W hat this success is, we shall see by the following extract: — 


‘The whole number baptized in Bengal since the year 1795, is 
forty-eight. Over many of these we rejoice with great joy; for others 
we tremble; and over some we are compelled to weep. —Bapl. Miss. 
Vol. III, p. 21, 22. 


Haired to the Gospel. 


‘ April 2. This morning, several of our chief printing servants pre- 
sented a petition, desiring they might have some relief, as they were 
compelled, in our Bengalee worship, to hear so many blasphemies 
against their gods! Brother Carey and I hada strong contention with 
them in the printing-office, and invited them to argue the point with 
Petumber, as his sermon had given them offence; but they declined 
it; though we told them that they were ten, and he was only one; that 
they were Brahmins, and he was only a sooder !’—Jbid. p. 36. 

‘The enmity against the gospel and its professors is universal. One 
of our baptized Hindoos wanted to rent a house: after going out two 
or three days, and wandering all the town over, he at last persuaded 
a woman to let him have a house: but though she was herself a Fe- 
ringa, yet when she heard that he was a Brahmin who had become a 
Christian, she insulted him, and drove him away: so that we are in- 
deed made the offscouring of all things.’—Jbid. p. 38. 

‘I was sitting among our native brethren, at the Bengalee school, 
hearing them read and explain a portion of the word in turn, when an 
aged, gray-headed Brahmin, well-dressed, came in; and standing be- 
fore me, said, with joined hands, and a supplicating tone of voice, 
“Sahib! Tam come toask an alms.” Beginning to weep, he repeated 
these words hastily; “Iam come to ask...an alms.” He continued 
standing, with his hands in a supplicating posture, weeping. I desired 
him to say what alms; and told him, that by his looks, it did not seem 
as if he wanted any relief. At length, being pressed, he asked me to 
give him his son, pointing with his hand into the midst of our native 
brethren. I asked which was his son? He pointed to a young Brah- 
min, named Soroop; and setting up a plaintive cry, said, that was 
his son. We tried to comfort him, and at last prevailed upon him to 
come and sit down upon the veranda. Here he began to weep again; 
and said that the young man’s mother was dying with grief.’ —Bapt. 
Miss. Vol. III. p. 43. . 

VOL. I1.—9 


122 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘This evening Buxoo, a brother, who is servant with us, and So- 
roop, went to a market in the neighbourhood, where they were disco- 
vered to be Yesoo Khreestare Loke (Jesus Christ’s people). The whole 
market was all in a hubbub: they clapped their hands, and threw dust 
at them. Buxoo was changing a rupee for cowries, when the disturb- 
ance began; and in the scuffle, the man ran away with the rupee 
without giving the cowries.’—Ibid. p. 55. 

‘ Nov. 24. This day Hawnye and Ram Khunt returned from their 
village. They relate that our brother Fotick, who lives in the same 
village, was lately seized by the chief Bengalee man there; dragged 
from his house; his face, eyes and ears clogged with cow-dung— 
his hands tied—and in this state confined several hours. They also 
tore to pieces all the papers, and the copy of the Testament, which 
they found in Fotick’s house. A relation of these persecutors being 
dead, they did not molest Hawnye and Ram Khunt; but the towns- 
folk would not hear about the gospel: they only insulted them for be- 
coming Christians.’—Ibid. p. 57. 

‘Cutwa on the Ganges, Sept. 3, 1804.—This place is about seventy 
miles from Serampore, by the Hoogley river. Here I have procured 
a spot of ground, perhaps about two acres, pleasantly situated by two 
tanks, and a fine grove of mango trees, at a small distance from the 
town. It was with difficulty I procured a spot. Iwas forced to leave 
one, after I had made a beginning, through the violent opposition of 
the people. Coming to this, opposition ceased; and therefore I called 
it Renosotu; for Jehovah hath made room for us. Herelhave raised 
a spacious bungalo.’—Jbid. p. 59. 

It would perhaps be more prudent to leave the question of 
sending missions to India to the effect of these extracts, which 
appear to us to be quite decisive, both as the to danger of insur- 
rection from the prosecution of the scheme, the utter unfitness 
of the persons employed in it, and the complete hopelessness 
of the attempt while pursued under such circumstances as now 
exist. But, as the Evangelical party who have got possession 
of our Eastern empire have brought forward a great deal of 
argument upon the question, it may be necessary to make to 
it some sort of reply. 

We admit it to be the general duty of Christian people to 
disseminate their religion among the Pagan nations who are 
subjected to their empire. [tis true they have not the aid of 
miracles; but itis their duty to attempt such conversion by the 
earnest and abundant employment of the best human means in 
their power. We believe that we are in possession of a re- 
vealed religion; that we are exclusively in possession of a 
revealed religion; and that the possession of that religion can 
alone confer immortality, and best confer present happiness. 
This religion, too, teaches us the duties of general benevolence: 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 123 


and how, under such a system, the conversion of Heathens 
can be a matter of indifference, we profess not to be able to 
understand. 

So much for the general rule:—now for the exceptions. 

No man (not an Anabaptist) will, we presume, contend 
that it is our duty to preach the natives into an insurrection, 
or to lay before them, so fully and emphatically, the scheme 
of the gospel, as to make them rise up in the dead of the 
night and shoot their instructors through the head. If con- 
version be the greatest of all objects, the possession of the 
country to be converted is the only mean, in this instance, by 
which that conversion can be accomplished; for we have no 
right to look for a miraculous conversion of the Hindoos; and 
it would be little short of a miracle, if General Oudinot was 
to display the same spirit as the serious part of the Directors 
of the East India Company. Even for missionary purposes, 
therefore, the utmost discretion is necessary ; and if we wish 
to teach the natives a better religion, we must take care to do 
it in a manner which will not inspire them with a passion for 
political change, or we shall inevitably lose our disciples alto- 
gether. ‘To us it appears quite clear, from the extracts before 
us, that neither Hindoo nor Mahomedan is at all indifferent 
to the attacks made upon his religion; the arrogance and the 
irritability of the Mahomedan are universally acknowledged ; 
and we put it to our readers, whether the Brahmins seem in 
these extracts to show the smallest disposition to behold the 
encroachments upon their religion with passiveness and uncon- 
cern. A missionary who converted only a few of the refuse 
of society, might live for ever in peace in India, and receive 
his salary from his fanatical masters for pompous predictions 
of universal conversion, transmitted by the ships of the season; 
but, if he had any marked success among the natives, it could 
not fail to excite much more dangerous specimens of jealousy 
and discontent than those which we have extracted from the 
Anabaptist Journal. How is it in human nature that a Brah- 
min should be indifferent to encroachments upon his religion? 
His reputation, his dignity, and in great measure his wealth, 
depend upon the preservation of the present superstitions; and 
why is it to be supposed that motives which are so powerful 
with all other human beings, are inoperative with him alone? 
If the Brahmins, however, are disposed to excite a rebellion 
in support of their own influence, no man, who knows any 


124 WORKS OF .THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


thing of India, can doubt that they have it in their power to 
effect it. 

It is in vain to say, that these attempts to diffuse Christianity 
do not originate from the government in India. ‘The omnipo- 
tence of government in the East is well known to the natives. If 
government does not prohibit, it tolerates; if it tolerates the 
conversion of the natives, the suspicion may be easily formed 
that it encourages that conversion. If the Brahmins do not 
believe this themselves, they may easily persuade the common 
people that such is the fact; nor are there wanting, besides the 
activity of these new missionaries, many other circumstances 
to corroborate such a rumour. Under the auspices of the 
College at Fort William, the Scriptures are in a course of 
translation into the languages of almost the whole continent 
of Oriental India, and we perceive, that in aid of this object 
the Bible Society has voted a very magnificent subscription. 
The three principal chaplains of our Indian settlements are 
(as might be expected) of principles exactly corresponding 
with the enthusiasm of their employers at home; and their 
zeal upon the subject of religion has shone and burnt with 
the most exemplary fury. ‘These circumstances, if they do 
not really impose upon the minds of the leading natives, may 
give them a very powerful handle for misrepresenting the in- 
tentions of government to the lower orders. 

We see from the massacre of Vellore, what a powerful 
engine attachment to religion may be rendered in Hindostan. 
The rumours might all have been false; but that event shows 
they were tremendously powerful when excited. The object, 
therefore, is not only not to do any thing violent and unjust 
upon subjects of religion, but not to give any stronger colour 
to jealous and disaffected natives for misrepresenting your 
intentions. 

All these observations have tenfold force when applied to 
an empire which rests so entirely upon opinion. If physical 
force could be called in to stop the progress of error, we could 
afford to be misrepresented for a season; but 30,000 white 
men living in the midst of 70 million sable subjects, must be 
always in the right, or at least never represented as grossly in 
the wrong. Attention to the prejudices of the subject is wise 
in all governments, but quite indispensable in a government 
constituted as our empire in India is constituted; where an 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 125 


uninterrupted series of dexterous conduct is not only necessary 
to our prosperity, but to our existence. 

These reasonings are entitled to a little more consideration, 
at a period when the French threaten our existence in India 
by open force, and by every species of intrigue with the native 
powers. In all governments, every thing takes its tone from 
the head: fanaticism has got into the government at home; 
fanaticism will lead to promotion abroad. ‘The civil servant 
in India will not only not dare to exercise his own judgment, 
in checking the indiscretions of ignorant missionaries; but he 
will strive torecommend himself to his holy masters in Leaden- 
hall Street, by imitating Brother Cran and Brother Ringle- 
taube, and by every species of fanatical excess. Methodism 
at home is no unprofitable game to play. In the East it will 
soon be the infallible road to promotion. ‘This is the great 
evil: if the management was in the hands of men who were as 
discreet and wise in their devotion as they are in matters of 
temporal welfare, the desire of putting an end to missions might 
be premature and indecorous. But the misfortune is, the men 
who wield the instrument, ought not, in common sense and 
propriety, to be trusted with it for a single instant. Upon this 
subject, they are quite insane and ungovernable; they would 
deliberately, piously, and conscientiously expose our whole 
Eastern empire to destruction, for the sake of converting half 
a dozen Brahmins, who, after stuffing themselves with rum 
and rice, and borrowing money from the missionaries, would 
run away and cover the gospel and its possessors with every 
species of impious ridicule and abuse. 

Upon the whole, it appears to us hardly possible to push the 
business of proselytism in India to any length without incur- 
ring the utmost risk of losing our empire. ‘The danger is more 
tremendous, because it may be so sudden; religious fears are 
very probable causes of disaffection in the troops; if the troops 
are generally disaffected, our Indian empire may be lost 
to us as suddenly as a frigate or a fort; and that empire is 
governed by men who, we are very much afraid, would feel 
proud to lose it in such a cause. 


‘But I think it my duty to make a solemn appeal to all who still 
retain the fear of God, and who admit that religion and the course of 
conduct which it prescribes are not to be banished from the affairs of 
nations—-now when the political sky,so long overcast, has become more 
lowering and black than ever—whether this is a period for augment- 


126 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ing the weight of our national sins and provocations, by an exclusive 
TOLERATION of idolatry; a crime which, unless the Bible be a forgery, 
has actually drawn forth the heaviest denunciations of vengeance, and 
the most fearful inflictions of Divine displeasure.’— Considerations, 


§c. p. 98. 


Can it be credited that this is an extract from a pamphlet 
generally supposed to be written by a noble Lord at the 
Board of Control, from whose official interference the public 
might have expected a corrective to the pious temerity of 
others? 

The other leaders of the party, indeed, make at present great 
professions of toleration, and express the strongest abhorrence 
of using violence to the natives. ‘This does very well fora 
beginning: but we have little confidence in such declarations. 
We believe their fingers itch to be at the stone and clay gods 
of the Hindoos; and that, in common with the noble Con- 
troller, they attribute a great part of our national calamities to 
these ugly images of deities on the one side of the world. 
We again repeat, that upon such subjects, the best and ablest 
men, if once tinged by fanaticism, are not to be trusted for a 
single moment. 

2dly, Another reason for giving up the task of conversion, is 
the want of success. In India, religion extends its empire 
over the minutest actions of life. Itis not merely a law for 
moral conduct, and for occasional worship; but it dictates toa 
man his trade, his dress, his food, and his whole behaviour. 
His religion also punishes a violation of its exactions, not by 
eternal and future punishments, but by present infamy. If an 
Hindoo is irreligious, or, in other words, if he loses his caste, 
he is deserted by father, mother, wife, child, and kindred, and 
becomes instantly a solitary wanderer upon the earth: to touch 
him, to receive him, to eat with him, is a pollution producing 
a similar loss of caste; and the state of such a degraded man 
is worse than death itself. ‘To these evils an Hindoo must 
expose himself before he becomes a Christian; and_ this 
difficulty must a missionary overcome, before he can expect 
the smallest success; a difficulty which, it is quite clear, they 
themselves, after a short residence in India, consider to be 
insuperable. 

As a proof of the tenacious manner in which the Hindoos 
cling to their religious prejudices, we shall state two or three 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 127 


very short anecdotes, to which any person who has resided in 
India might easily produce many parallels. 

‘In the year 1766, the late Lord Clive and Mr. Verelst employed the 
whole influence of Government to restore a Hindoo to his caste, who 
had forfeited it, not by any neglect of his own, but by having been com- 
pelled, by a most unpardonable act of violence, to swallow a drop of 
cow broth. ‘The Brahmins, from the peculiar circumstances of the 
case, were very anxious to comply with the wishes of Government; 
the principal men among them met once at Kishnagur, and once 
~ at Calcutta; but after consultations, and an examination of their 
most ancient records, they declared to Lord Clive, that as there was 
no precedent to justify the act, they found it ¢mposstble to restore the 
unfortunate man to his caste, and he died soon after of a broken heart.’ 
—Scott Waring’s Preface, p. lvi. 


It is the custom of the Hindoos to expose dying people 
upon the banks of the Ganges. There is something peculiarly 
holy in that river; and it soothes the agonies of death to look 
upon its waters in the last moments. A party of English were 
coming down in a boat, and perceived upon the bank a pious 
Hindoo, in a state of the last imbecility—about to be drowned 
by the rising of the tide, after the most approved and orthodox 
manner of their religion. ‘They had the curiosity to land; and 
as they perceived some more signs of life than were at first 
apparent, a young Englishman poured down his throat the 
greatest part of a bottle of lavender-water, which he happened 
to have in his pocket. The effects of such a stimulus, applied 
to a stomach accustomed to nothing stronger than water, 
were instantaneous and powerful. ‘The Hindoo revived suf- 
ficiently to admit of his being conveyed to the boat, was 
carried to Calcutta, and perfectly recovered. He had drunk, 
however, in the company of Europeans ;—no matter whether 
voluntary or involuntary,—the offence was committed: he 
lost caste, was turned away from his home, and avoided, 
of course, by every relation and friend. ‘The poor man came 
before the police, making the bitterest complaints upon being 
restored to life; and for three years the burden of support- 
ing him fell upon the mistaken Samaritan who had rescued 
him from death. During that period, scarcely a day elapsed 
in which the degraded resurgent did not appear before the 
European, and curse him with the bitterest curses—as the 
eause of all his misery and desolation. At the end of that 
period he fell ill, and of course was not again thwarted in his 
passion for dying. ‘The writer of this article vouches for the 


128 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


truth of this anecdote; and many persons who were at Calcutta 
at the time must have a distinct recollection of the fact, which 
excited a great deal of conversation and amusement, mingled 
with compassion. 

It is this institution of castes which has preserved India in 
the same state in which it existed in the days of Alexander; 
and which would leave it without the slightest change in habits 
and manners, if we were to abandon the country to-morrow. 
We are astonished to observe the late resident in Bengal 
speaking of the fifteen millions of Mahomedans in India as 
converts from the Hindoos; an opinion, in support of which 
he does not offer the shadow of an argument, except by asking, 
whether the Mahomedans have the ‘Tartar face? and if not, 
how they can be the descendants of the first conquerors of 
India? Probably not altogether. But does this writer imagine, 
that the Mahomedan empire could exist in Hindostan for 700 
years without the intrusion of Persians, Arabians, and every 
species of Mussulman adventurers from every part of the East, 
which had embraced the religion of Mahomed? And let them 
come from what quarter they would, could they ally them- 
selves to Hindoo women without producing in their descend- 
ants an approximation to the Hindoo features? Dr. Robertson, 
who has investigated this subject with the greatest care, and 
looked into all the authorities, is expressly of an opposite 
opinion; and considers the Mussulman inhabitants of Hindo- 
stan to be merely the descendants of Mahomedan adventurers, 
and not converts from the Hindoo faith. 

‘The armies’ (says Orme) ‘ which made the first conquests 
for the heads of the respective dynasties, or for other invaders, 
left behind them numbers of Mahomedans, who, seduced bya 
finer climate, and a richer country, forgot their own. 

‘The Mahomedan princes of India naturally gave a prefer- 
ence to the service of men of their own religion, who, from 
whatever country they came, were of a more vigorous consti- 
tution than the stoutest of the subjected nation. ‘This prefer- 
ence has continually encouraged adventurers from Tartary, 
Persia, and Arabia, to seek their fortunes under a government 
from which they were sure of receiving greater encouragement 
than they could expect at home. From these origins, time 
has formed in India a mighty nation of near ten millions of 
Mahomedans.’—Orme’s Indostan, I. p. 24. 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 129 


Precisely similar to this is the opinion of Dr. Robertson, 
Note xl.—Jndian Disquisition. 

As to the religion of the Ceylonese, from which the Bengal 
resident would infer the facility of making converts of the 
Hindoos, it is to be observed, that the religion of Boudhou, in 
ancient times, extended from the north of ‘Tartary to Ceylon, 
from the Indus to Siam, and (if Foe and Boudhou are the same 
persons) over China. ‘That of the two religions of Boudhou 
and Brama, the one was the parent of the other, there can be 
very little doubt; but the comparative antiquity of the two is so 
very disputed a point, that it is quite unfair to state the case of 
the Ceylonese as an instance of conversion from the Hindoo 
religion to any other: and even if the religion of Brama is the 
most ancient of the two, it is still to be proved, that the Cey- 
lonese professed that religion before they changed it for their 
present faith. In point of fact, however, the boasted Chris- 
tianity of the Ceylonese is proved by the testimony of the 
missionaries themselves, to be little better than nominal. ‘The 
following extract from one of their own communications, dated 
Columbo, 1805, will set this matter in its true light:— 


‘The elders, deacons, and some of the members of the Dutch con- 
gregation, came to see us, and we paid them a visit in return, and 
made a little inquiry concerning the state of the church on this island, 
which is, in one word, miserable! One hundred thousand of those 
who are called Christians (because they are baptized) need not go 
back to heathenism, for they never have been any thing else but heathens, 
worshippers of Budda: they have been induced, for worldly reasons, 
to be baptized. O Lord have mercy on the poor inhabitants of this 
populous island!’— Trans. Miss. Soc. II. 265. 


What success the Syrian Christians had in making converts; 
in what degree they have gained their numbers by victories 
over the native superstition, or lost their original numbers by 
the idolatrous examples to which for so many centuries they 
have been exposed; are points wrapt up in so much obscurity, 
that no kind of inference, as to the facility of converting the 
natives, can be drawn from them. Their present number is 
supposed to be about 150,000. 

It would be of no use to quote the example of Japan and 
China, even if the progress of the faith in these empires had 
been much greater than itis. We do not say it is difficult to 
convert the Japanese, or the Chinese; but the Hindoos. We 
are not saYing it is difficult to convert human creatures; but 


130 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


difficult to convert human creatures with such institutions. 
‘To mention the example of other nations who have them not, 
is to pass over the material objection, and to answer others 
which are merely imaginary, and have never been made. 

3dly, 'The duty of conversion is less plain, and less impe- 
rious, when conversion exposes the convert to great present 
misery. An African or an Otaheite proselyte might not per- 
haps be less honoured by his countrymen if he became a 
Christian; an Hindoo is instantly subjected to the most perfect 
degradation. A change of faith might increase the immediate 
happiness of any other individual; it annihilates for ever all 
the human comforts which an Hindoo enjoys. ‘The eternal 
happiness which you proffer him, is therefore less attractive 
to him than to any other heathen, from the life of misery by 
which he purchases it. 

Nothing is more precarious than our empire in India. Sup- 
pose we were to be driven out of it to-morrow, and to leave 
behind us twenty thousand converted Hindoos, it is most pro- 
bable they would rejapse into heathenism; but their original 
station in society could not be regained. ‘The duty of making 
converts, therefore, among such a people, as it arises from the 
general duty of benevolence, is less strong than it would be in 
many other cases; because, situated as we are, it is quite cer- 
tain we shall expose them to a great deal of misery, and not 
quite certain we shall do them any future good. 

4thly, Conversion is no duty at all, if it merely destroys the 
old religion, without really and effectually teaching the new 
one. Brother Ringletaube may write home that he makes a 
Christian, when, in reality, he ought only to state that he has 
destroyed an Hindoo. Foolish and imperfect as the religion 
of an Hindoo is, it is at least some restraint upon the intempe- 
rance of human passions. It is better a Brahmin should be 
respected, than that nobody should be respected. An Hindoo 
had better believe that a deity with an hundred legs and 
arms, will reward and punish him hereafter, than that he is 
not to be punished at all. Now, when you have destroyed 
the faith of an Hindoo, are you quite sure that you will graft 
upon his mind fresh principles of action, and make him any 
thing more than a nominal Christian ? 

You have 30,000 Europeans in India, and 60 millions of 
other subjects. If proselytism were to go on as rapidly as the 
most visionary Anabaptist could dream or desire, in what man- 


INDIAN MISSIONS. 131 


ner are these people to be taught the genuine truths and prac- 
tices of Christianity? Where are the clergy to come from ? 
Who is to defray the expense of the establishment? and who 
can foresee the immense and perilous difficulties of bending 
the laws, manners, and institutions of a country to the dictates 
of a new religion? If it were easy to persuade the Hindoos 
that their own religion was folly, it would be infinitely difficult 
effectually to teach them any other. They would tumble 
their own idols into the river, and you would build them no 
churches: you would destroy all their present motives for 
doing right and avoiding wrong, without being able to fix upon 
their minds the more sublime motives by which you profess 
to be actuated. What a missionary will do hereafter with the 
heart of a convert, is a matter of doubt and speculation. He 
is quite certain, however, that he must accustom the man to 
see himself considered as infamous; and good principles can 
hardly be exposed to a ruder shock. Whoever has seen much 
of Hindoo Christians must have perceived, that the man who 
bears that name is very commonly nothing more than a 
drunken reprobate, who conceives himself at liberty to eat 
and drink any thing he pleases, and annexes hardly any other 
‘meaning to the name of Christianity. Such sort of converts 
may swell the list of names, and gratify the puerile pride of a 
missionary ; but what real, discreet Christian can wish to see 
such Christianity prevail? Butit will be urged, if the present 
converts should become worse Hindoos, and very indifferent 
Christians, still the next generation will do better; and by de- 
grees, and at the expiration of half a century, or a century, true 
Christianity may prevail. We may apply to such sort of 
Jacobin converters what Mr. Burke said of the Jacobin poli- 
ticians in his time,—‘ To such men a whole generation of hu- 
man beings are of no more consequence than a frog in an air- 
pump.’ For the distant prospect of doing what most probably 
after all, they will never be able to effect, there is no degree of 
present misery and horror to which they will not expose the 
subjects of their experiment. 

As the duty of making proselytes springs from the duty of 
benevolence, there is a priority of choice in conversion. ‘The 
greatest zeal should plainly be directed to the most desperate 
misery and ignorance. Now, in comparison to many other 
nations who are equally ignorant of the truths of Christianity, 
the Hindoos are a civilized and a moral people. ‘That they 


a2 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


have remained in the same state for so many centuries, is at 
once a proof that the institutions which established that state 
could not be highly unfavourable to human happiness. After 
all that has been said of the vices of the Hindoos, we believe 
that an Hindoo is more mild and sober than most Europeans, 
and as honest and chaste. In astronomy the Hindoos have 
certainly made very high advances ;—some, and not an unim- 
portant progress in many sciences. As manufacturers, they 
are extremely ingenious—and as agriculturists, industrious. 
Christianity would improve them; (whom would it not im- 
prove?) but if Christianity cannot be extended to all, there 
are many other nations who want it more.* 

The Hindoos have some very savage customs, which it 
would be desirable to abolish. Some swing on hooks, some 
run knives through their hands, and widows burn themselves 
to death: but these follies (even the last) are quite voluntary 
on the part of the sufferers. We dislike all misery, voluntary 
or involuntary; but the difference between the torments which 
a man chooses, and those which he endures from the choice 
of others, is very great. It is a considerable wretchedness 
that men and women should be shut up in religious houses ; 
but it is only an object of legislative interference, when such 
incarceration is compulsory. Monasteries and nunneries with 
us would be harmless institutions; because the moment a de- 
votee found he had acted like a fool, he might avail himself of 
the discovery and run away; and so may an Hindoo, if he re- 
pents of his resolution of running hooks into his flesh. 

The duties of conversion appear to be of less importance, 
when it is impossible to procure proper persons to undertake 
them, and when such religious embassies, in consequence, 
devolve upon the lowest of the people. Who wishes to see 
scrofula and atheism cured by a single sermon in Bengal ? who 
wishes to see the religious hoy riding at anchor in the Hoogly 
river? or shoals of jumpers exhibiting their nimble piety be- 
fore the learned Brahmins of Benares?. This madness is dis- 
gusting and dangerous enough at home:—Why are we to 
send out little detachments of maniacs to spread over the fine 
regions of the world the most unjust and contemptible opinion 


* We are here, of course, arguing the question only in a worldly 
point of view. Thisis one point of view in which it must be placed, 
though certainly the lowest and least important. 





INDIAN MISSIONS. 133 


of the gospel? The wise and rational part of the Christian 
ministry find they have enough to do at home to combat with 
passions unfavourable to human happiness, and to make men 
act up to their professions. But if a tinker is a devout man, 
he infallibly sets off for the East. Let any man read the 
Anabaptist missions :—can he do so without deeming such 
men pernicious and extravagant in their own country,—and 
without feeling that they are benefiting us much more by 
their absence, than the Hindoos by their advice? 

It is somewhat strange, in a duty which is stated by one 
party to be so clear and so indispensable, that no man of mo- 
deration and good sense can be found to perform it. And if 
no other instruments remain but visionary enthusiasts, some 
doubt may be honestly raised whether it is not better to drop 
the scheme entirely. 

Shortly stated, then, our argument is this:—We see not 
the slightest prospect of success;—we see much danger in 
making the attempt ;—and we doubt if the conversion of the 
Hindoos would ever be more than nominal. If it is a duty of 
general benevolence to convert the Heathen, it is less a duty to 
convert the Hindoos than any other people, because they are 
already highly civilized, and because you must infallibly sub- 
ject them to infamy and present degradation. The instruments 
employed for these purposes are calculated to bring ridicule 
and disgrace upon the gospel; and in the discretion of those 
at home, whom we consider as their patrons, we have not the 
smallest reliance; but, on the contrary, we are convinced they 
would behold the loss of our Indian empire, not with the hu- 
mility of men convinced of erroneous views and projects, but 
with the pride, the exultation, and the alacrity of martyrs. 

Of the books which have handled this subject on either 
side, we have little to say. Major Scott Waring’s book is 
the best against the Missions; but he wants arrangement and 
prudence. ‘The late resident writes well; but is miserably 
fanatical towards the conclusion. Mr. Cunningham has been 
diligent in looking into books upon the subject: and though 
an evangelical gentleman, is not uncharitable to those who 
differ from him in opinion. ‘There is a passage in the publi- 
cation of his reverend brother, Mr. Owen, which, had we been 
less accustomed than we have been of late to this kind of 
writing, would appear to be quite incredible. 

‘I have not pointed out the comparative indifference, upon Mr. 


134 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Twining’s principles, between one religion and another, to the wel- 
fare of a people; nor the impossibility, on those principles, of India 
being Christianized by any human means, so long as it shall remain 
under the dominion of the Company; nor the alternative to which Pro- 
vidence is by consequence reduced, of either giving up that country to ever- 
lasting superstition, or of working some miracle in order to accomplish its 
conversion. —Owen’s Address, p. 28. 


This is really beyond any thing we ever remember to have 
read. ‘The hoy, the cock-fight, and the religious newspaper, are 
pure reason when compared to it. he idea of reducing Provi- 
dence to an alternative! ! and, by a motion at the India House, 
carried by ballot! We would not insinuate, in the most dis- 
tant manner, that Mr. Owen is not a gentleman of the most 
sincere piety; but the misfortune is, all extra superfine per- 
sons accustom themselves to a familiar phraseology upon the 
most sacred subjects, which is quite shocking to the common 
and inferior orders of Christians. Providence reduced to an 
alternative!!!!! Wet it be remembered, this phrase comes 
from a member of a religious party, who are loud in their 
complaints of being confounded with enthusiasts and fanatics. 

We cannot conclude without the most pointed reprobation 
of the low mischief of the Christian Observer; a publication 
which appears to have no other method of discussing a ques- 
tion fairly open to discussion, than that of accusing their an- 
tagonists of infidelity. No art can be more unmanly, or, if 
its consequences are foreseen, more wicked. If this publica- 
tion had been the work of a single individual, we might have 
passed it over in silent disgust; but as itis looked upon as the 
organ of a great political religious party in this country, we 
think it right to notice the very unworthy manner in which 
they are attempting to extend their influence. For ourselves, 
if there were a fair prospect of carrying the gospel into re- 
gions where it was before unknown,—if such a project did 
not expose the best possessions of the country to extreme dan- 
ger, and if it was in the hands of men who were discreet, as 
well as devout, we should consider it to be a scheme of true 
piety, benevolence, and wisdom: but the baseness and malig- 
nity of fanaticism shall never prevent us from attacking its 
arrogance, its ignorance, and its activity. For what vice can 
be more tremendous than that which, while it wears the out- 
ward appearance of religion, destroys the happiness of man, 
and dishonours the name of God? 


CATHOLICS. 135 


CATHOLICS. (Enrnsuren Revizw, 1808.) 


History of the Penal Laws against the Irish Catholics, from the Treaty 
of Limerick to the Union. By Henry Parnell, Esq. M.P. 


THE various publications which have issued from the press in 
favour of religious liberty, have now nearly silenced the argu- 
ments of their opponents; and, teaching sense to some, and 
inspiring others with shame, have left those only on the field 
who can neither learn nor blush. 

But, though the argument is given up, and the justice of 
the Catholic cause admitted, it seems to be generally conceived, 
that their case, at present, is utterly hopeless; and that, to ad- 
vocate it any longer, will only irritate the oppressed, without 
producing any change of opinion in those by whose influence 
and authority that oppression is continued. ‘To this opinion, 
unfortunately too prevalent, we have many reasons for not 
subscribing. 

We do not understand what is meant in this country by the 
notion, that a measure, of consummate wisdom and imperious 
necessity, is to be deferred for any time, or to depend upon 
any contingency. Whenever it can be made clear to the 
understanding of the great mass of enlightened people, that 
any system of political conduct is necessary to the public wel- 
fare, every obstacle (as it ought) will be swept away before it; 
and as we conceive it to be by no means improbable, that the 
country may, ere long, be placed in a situation where its safety 
or ruin will depend upon its conduct towards the Catholics, 
we sincerely believe we are doing our duty in throwing every 
possible light on this momentous question. Neither do we 
understand where this passive submission to ignorance and 
error is to end. Is it confined to religion? or does it extend to 
war and peace, as well as religion? Would it be tolerated, if 
any man were to say, ‘ Abstain from all arguments in favour 
of peace; the court have resolved upon eternal war; and, as 
you cannot have peace, to what purpose urge the necessity of 
it?’ We answer,—that courts must be presumed to be open 


136 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


to the influence of reason; or, if they were not, to the influence 
of prudence and discretion, when they perceive the public 
opinion to be loudly and clearly against them. To lie by in 
timid and indolent silence,—to suppose an inflexibility, in 
which no court ever could, under pressing circumstances, per- 
severe—and to neglect a regular and vigorous appeal to public 
opinion, is to give up all chance of doing good, and to abandon 
the only instrument by which the few are ever prevented from 
ruining the many. 

It is folly to talk of any other ultimatum in government 
than perfect justice to the fair claims of the subject. ‘The 
concessions to the Irish Catholics in 1792 were to be the ne 
plus ultra. Every engine was set on foot to induce the 
grand juries in Ireland to petition against further concessions ; 
and, in six months afterwards, government were compelled to 
introduce, themselves, those further relaxations of the penal 
code, of which they had just before assured the Catholies they 
must abandon all hope. Such is the absurdity of supposing 
that a few interested and ignorant individuals can postpone, at 
their pleasure and caprice, the happiness of millions. 

As to the feeling of irritation with which such continued 
discussion may inspire the Irish Catholics, we are convinced 
that no opinion could be so prejudicial to the cordial union 
which we hope may always subsist between the two countries, 
as that all the efforts of the Irish were unavailing,—that argu- 
ment was hopeless,—that their case was prejudged with a 
sullen inflexibility which circumstances could not influence, 
pity soften, or reason. subdue. 

We are by no means convinced, that the decorous silence 
recommended upon the Catholic question would be rewarded 
by those future concessions, of which many persons appear 
to be so certain. We havea strange incredulity where per- 
secution is to be abolished, and any class of men restored to 
their indisputable rights. When we see it done, we will 
believe it. ‘Till it is done, we shall always consider it to 
be highly improbable—much too improbable—to justify the 
smallest relaxation in the Catholics themselves, or in those 
who are well-wishers to their cause. When the fanciful period 
at present assigned for the emancipation arrives, new scruples 
may arise—fresh forbearance be called for—and the operations 
of common sense be deferred for another generation. ‘Tolera- 
tion never had a present tense, nor taxation a future one. 


CATHOLICS. 137 


The answer which Paul received from Felix, he owed to the 
subject on which he spoke. When justice and righteousness 
were his theme, Felix told him to go away, and he would 
hear him some other time. All men who have spoken to 
courts upon such disagreeable topics, have received the same 
answer. Felix, however, trembled when he gave it; but his 
fear was ill-directed. He trembled at the subject—he ought 
to have trembled at the delay. 

Little or nothing is to be expected from the shame of defer- 
ring what it is so wicked and perilous to defer. Profligacy 
in taking office is so extreme, that we have no doubt public 
men may be found, who, for half a century, would postpone 
all remedies for a nestilence, if the preservation of their places 
depended upon the propagation of the virus. To us, such 
kind of conduct conveys no other action than that of sordid 
avaricious impudence:—it puts to sale the best interests of the 
country for some improvement in the wines and meats and 
carriages which a man uses,—and encourages a new political 
morality which may always postpone any other great mea- 
sure—and every other great measure as well as the emancipa- 
tion of the Catholics. 

We terminate this apologetical preamble with expressing 
the most earnest hope that the Catholics will not, from any 
notion that their cause is effectually carried, relax in any one 
constitutional effort necessary to their purpose. ‘Their cause 
is the cause of common sense and justice;—the safety of 
England and of the world may depend upon it. It rests upon 
the soundest principles; leads to the most important conse- 
quences; and therefore cannot be too frequently brought before 
the notice of the public. 

The book before us is written by Mr. Henry Parnell, the 
brother of Mr. William Parnell, author of the Historical 
Apology, reviewed in one of our late Numbers; and it con- 
tains a very well written history of the penal laws enacted 
against the Irish Catholics, from the peace of Limerick, in the 
reign of King William, to the late Union. Of these we shall 
present a very short, and, we hope even to loungers, a read- 
able abstract. | 

The war carried on in Ireland against King William can- 
not deserve the name of a rebellion:—it was a struggle for 
their lawful Prince, whom they had sworn to maintain; and 
whose zeal for the Catholic religion, whatever effect it might 

VOL. 1.—10 


138 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


have produced in England, could not by them be considered 
as accrime. ‘This war was terminated by the surrender of 
Limerick, upon conditions by which the Catholics hoped, and 
very rationally hoped, to secure to themselves the free enjoy- 
ment of their religion in future, and an exemption from all 
those civil penalties and incapacities which the reigning creed 
is so fond of heaping upon its subjugated rivals. 

By the various articles of this treaty, they are to enjoy such 
privileges in the exercise of their religion, as they did enjoy in 
the time of Charles II.: and the King promises upon the meet- 
ing of Parliament, ‘to endeavour to procure for them such 
further security in that particular, as may preserve them 
from any disturbance on account of their said religion.’ 
They are to be restored to their estates, privileges, and immu- 
nities, as they enjoyed them in the time of Charles II. The 
gentlemen are to be allowed to carry arms; and no other oath 
is to be tendered to the Catholics who submit to King William 
than the oath of allegiance. ‘These and other articles, King 
William ratifies for himself, his heirs and successors, as far 
asin him lies; and confirms the same, and every other clause 
and matter therein contained. 

These articles were signed by the English general on the 
3d of October, 1691; and diffused comfort, confidence, and 
tranquillity among the Catholics. On the 22d of October, the 
English Parliament excluded Catholics from the Irish Houses 
of Lords and Commons, by compelling them to take the oaths 
of supremacy before admission. 

In 1695, the Catholics were deprived of all means of educat- 
ing their children, at home or abroad, and of the privilege of 
being guardians to their own or to other persons’ children. 
Then all the Catholics were disarmed,—and then all the 
priests banished. After this (probably by way of joke), an 
act was passed to confirm the treaty of Limerick,—the great 
and glorious King William totally forgetting the contract he 
had entered into of recommending the religious liberties of the 
Catholics to the attention of Parliament. 

On the 4th of March, 1704, it was enacted, that any son of 
a Catholic who would turn Protestant, should succeed to the 
family estate, which from that moment could no longer be sold, 
or charged with debt and legacy. On the same day, Popish 
fathers were debarred, by a penalty of 500/., from being guar- 
dians to their own children. If the child, however young, 


CATHOLICS. 139 


declared himself a Protestant, he was to be delivered imme- 
diately to the custody of some Protestant relation. No Pro- 
testant to marry-a Papist. No Papist to purchase land, or 
take a lease of land for more than thirty-one years. If the 
profits of the lands so leased by the Catholics amounted to 
above a certain rate settled by the act,—farm to belong to the 
first Protestant who made the discovery. No Papist to be 
in a line of entail; but the estate to pass on to the next Pro- 
testant heir, as if the Papist were dead. If a Papist dies 
intestate, and no Protestant heir can be found, property to be 
equally divided among all the sons; or, if he has none, among 
all the daughters. By the 16th clause of this bill, no Papist 
to hold any office civil or military. Not to dwell in Limerick 
or Galway, except on certain conditions. Not*to vote at elec- 
tions. Not to hold advowsons. 

In 1709, Papists were prevented from holding an annuity 
for life. If any son of a Papist chose to turn Protestant, and 
enrol the certificate of his conversion in the Court of Chan- 
cery, that court is empowered to compel his father to state 
the value of his property upon oath, and to make out of that 
property a competent allowance to the son, at their own dis- 
cretion, not only for his present maintenance, but for his fu- 
ture portion after the death of his father. An increase of 
jointure to be enjoyed by Papist wives upon their conversion. 
Papists keeping schools to be prosecuted as convicts. Popish 
priests who are converted, to receive 30/. per annum. 

Rewards are given by the same act for the discovery of 
the Popish clergy;—50/. for discovering a Popish bishop; 
20/. for a common Popish clergyman; 10/. for a Popish 
usher! Two justices of the peace can compel any Papist above 
eighteen years of age to disclose every particular which has 
come to his knowledge respecting Popish priests, celebration 
of mass, or Papist schools. Imprisonment for a year if he 
refuses to answer. Nobody can hold property in trust for a 
Catholic. Juries, in all trials growing out of these statutes, 
to be Protestants. No Papist to take more than two appren- 
tices, except in the linen trade. All the Catholic clergy to 
give in their names and places of abode at the quarter-ses- 
sions, and to keep no curates. Catholics not to serve on 
grand juries. In any trial upon statutes for strengthening the 
We interest, a Papist juror may be peremptorily chal- 
enge 


140 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITII. 


In the next reign, Popish horses were attached, and allowed 
to be seized for the militia. Papists cannot be either high or 
petty constables. No Papists to vote at elections. Papists 
in towns to provide Protestant watchmen ;—and not to vote at 
vestries. 

In the reign of George II., Papists were prohibited from 
being barristers. Barristers and solicitors marrying Papists, 
considered to be Papists, and subjected to all penalties as 
such. Persons robbed by privateers, during a war with a 
Popish prince, to be indemnified by grand jury presentments, 
and the money to be levied on the Catholics only. No Pa- 
pist to marry a Protestant;—any priest celebrating such a 
marriage to be hanged. 

During all this time there was not the slightest rébellion in 
Ireland. 

In 1715 and 1745, while Scotland and the north of England 
were up in arms, not a man stirred in Ireland; yet the spirit 
of persecution against the Catholics continued till the 18th 
of his present Majesty; and then gradually gave way to the 
increase of knowledge, the humanity of our Sovereign, the abi- 
lities of Mr. Grattan, the weakness of England struggling in 
America, and the dread inspired by the French revolution. 

Such is the rapid outline of a code of laws which reflects 
indelible disgrace upon the English character, and explains 
but too clearly the cause of that hatred in which the English 
name has been so long held in Ireland. It would require 
centuries to efface such an impression; and yet, when we find 
it fresh, and operating at the end of a few years, we explain 
the fact by every cause which can degrade the Irish, and by 
none which can remind us of our own scandalous policy. 
With the folly and the horror of such a code before our eyes, 
—with the conviction of recent and domestic history, that 
mankind are not be lashed and chained out of their faith,—-wee 
are striving to teaze and worry them into a better theology. 
Heavy oppression is removed; light insults and provocations 
are retained; the scourge does not fall upon their shoulders, 
but it sounds in their ears. And this is the conduct we are 
pursuing, when it is still a great doubt whether this country 
alone may not be opposed to the united efforts of the whole of 
Kurope. It is really difficult to ascertain which is the most 
utterly destitute of common sense,—the capricious and arbi- 
trary stop we have made in our concessions to the Catholics, 


CATHOLICS. 141 


or the precise period we have chosen for this grand effort of 
obstinate folly. 

In whatsoever manner the contest now in agitation on the 
Continent may terminate, its relation to the emancipation of 
the Catholics will be very striking. If the Spaniards succeed 
in establishing their own liberties, and in rescuing Europe 
from the tyranny under which it at present labours, it will still 
be contended, within the walls of our own Parliament, that 
the Catholics cannot fulfil the duties of social life. Venal poli- 
ticians will still argue that the time is not yet come. Sacred 
and lay sycophants will still lavish upon the Catholic faith 
their well-paid abuse, and England still passively submit to 
such a disgraceful spectacle of ingratitude and injustice. If, 
on the contrary (as may probably be the case), the Spaniards 
fall before the numbers and military skill of the French, then 
are we left alone in the world, without another ray of hope; 
and compelled to employ against internal disaffection that 
force which, exalted to its utmost energy, would in all proba- 
bility prove but barely equal to the external danger by which 
we should be surrounded. Whence comes it that these things 
are universally admitted to be true, but looked upon in servile 
silence by a country hitherto accustomed to make great efforts 
for its prosperity, safety and independence? 


142 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


7 


METHODISM. (Epinsurex Reyrew, 1809.) 


Strietures on two Critiques in the Edinburgh Review, on the Subject of 
Methodism and Missions; with Remarks on the Influence of Reviews, 
in general, on Morals and Happiness. By John Styles. 8vo. Lon- 
don, 1809. : 


In routing out a nest of consecrated cobblers, and in bringing 
to light such a perilous heap of trash as we were obliged to 
work through, in our articles upon the Methodists and Mis- 
sionaries, we are generally conceived to have rendered an use- 
ful service to the cause of rational religion. Every one, how- 
ever, at all acquainted with the true character of Methodism, 
must have known the extent of the abuse and misrepresenta- 
tion to which we exposed ourselves in such aservice. All this 
obloquy, however, we were very willing to encounter, from 
our conviction of the necessity of exposing and correcting the 
growing evil of fanaticism. In spite of all misrepresentation, 
we have ever been, and ever shall be, the sincere friends of 
sober and rational Christianity. We are quite ready, if any 
fair opportunity occur, to defend it, to the best of our ability, 
from the tiger-spring of infidelity ; and we are quite determined, 
if we can prevent such an evil, that it shall not be eaten up by 
the nasty and numerous vermin of Methodism. For this pur- 
pose, we shall proceed to make a few short remarks upon the 
sacred and silly gentleman before us,—not, certainly, because 
we feel any sort of anxiety as to the effect of his strictures on 
our own credit or reputation, but because his direct and articu- 
late defence of the principles and practices which we have 
condemned, affords us the fairest opportunity of exposing, still 
more clearly, both the extravagance and the danger of these 
popular sectaries. 

These very impudent people have one ruling canon, which 
pervades every thing they say anddo. Whoever is unfriendly 
to Methodism, is an infidel and an atheist. ‘This reason- . 
able and amiable maxim, repeated, in every form of dulness, 


METHODISM. 143 


and varied in every attitude of malignity, is the sum and sub-_ 
stance of Mr. Styles’s pamphlet. Whoever wishes to rescue 
religion from the hands of didactic artisans,—whoever prefers 
a respectable clergyman for his teacher to a delirious mecha- 
nic,—whoever wishes to keep the intervals between churches 
and lunatic asylums as wide as possible,—al! such men, in the 
estimation of Mr. Styles, are nothing better than open or con- 
cealed enemies of Christianity. His catechism is very simple. 
In what hoy do you navigate?’ By what shoemaker or car- 
penter are you instructed? What miracles have you to relate? 
Do you think it sinful fo reduce Providence to an alternative, 
&e. &e. &c. Now, if we were to content ourselves with 
using to Mr. Styles, while he is dealing about his imputations 
of infidelity, the uncourtly language which is sometimes ap- 
plied to those who are little curious about truth or falsehood, 
what Methodist would think the worse of him for such an at- 
tack? Who is there among them that would not glory to lie 
for the tabernacle ? who that would not believe he was pleasing 
his Maker, by sacrificing truth, justice and common sense, to 
the interests of his own little chapel, and his own deranged 
instructor? Something more than contradiction or confutation, 
therefore, is necessary to discredit those charitable dogmatists, 
and to diminish their pernicious influence ;—and the first 
accusation against us is, that we have endeavoured to add ridi- 
cule to reasoning. 

We are a good deal amused, indeed, with the extreme 
disrelish which Mr. John Styles exhibits to the humour and 
pleasantry with which he admits the Methodists to have been 
attacked ; but Mr. John Styles should remember, that it is not 
the practice with destroyers of vermin to allow the little vic- 
tims a vefo upon the weapons used against them. If this were 
otherwise, we should have one set of vermin banishing small- 
tooth combs; another protesting against mouse-traps; a third 
prohibiting the finger and thumb; a fourth exclaiming against 
the intolerable infamy of using soap and water. It is impos- 
sible, however, to listen to such pleas. ‘They must all be 
~ caught, killed and cracked, in the manner, and by the instru- 
ments which are found most efficacious to their destruction; 
and the more they cry out, the greater plainly is the skill used 
against them. Weare convinced a little laughter will do them 
more harm than all the arguments in the world. Such men 
as the author before us cannot understand when they are out- 


144 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


argued; but he has given us a specimen, from his irritability, 
that he fully comprehends when he has become the object of 
universal contempt and derision. We agree with him, that 
ridicule is not exactly the weapon to be used in matters of re- 
ligion; but the use of it is excusable, when there is no other 
which can make fools tremble. Besides, he should remem- 
ber the particular sort of ridicule we have used, which is 
nothing more than accurate quotation from the Methodists 
themselves. It is true, that this is the most severe and cut- 
ting ridicule to which we could have had recourse ; but, whose 
fault is that? 

Nothing can be more disingenuous than the attacks Mr. 
Styles has made upon us for our use of Scripture language. 
Light and grace are certainly terms of Scripture. It is not 
to the words themselves that any ridicule can ever attach. It 
is from the preposterous application of those words, in the 
mouths of the most arrogant and ignorant of human beings ;— 
it is from their use in the most trivial, low and familiar scenes 
of life ;—it is from the illiterate and ungrammatical prelacy of 
Mr. John Styles, that any tinge of ridicule ever is or ever can 
be imparted to the sacred language of Scripture. 

We admit also, with this gentleman, that it would certainly 
evince the most vulgar and contracted heart, to ridicule any 
religious opinions, methodistical or otherwise, because they 
were the opinions of the poor, and were conveyed in the lan- 
gusge of the poor. Butare we to respect the poor, when they 
wish to step out of their province, and become the teachers 
of the land?’—when men, whose proper ‘talk is of bullocks, 
pretend to have wisdom and understanding,’ is it not lawful to 
tell them they have none? An ironmonger is a very respect- 
able man, so long as he is merely an ironmonger,—an admi- 
rable manif he is a religious ironmonger; but a great blockhead 
if he sets up for a bishop or a dean, and lectures upon theology. 
It is not the poor we have attacked,—but the writing poor, the 
publishing poor,—the limited arrogance which mistakes its 
own trumpery sect for the world: nor have we attacked them 
for want of talent, but for want of modesty, want of sense, and 
want of true rational religion,—for every fault which Mr. John 
Styles defends and exemplifies. 

It is scarcely possible to reduce the drunken declamations 
of Methodism to a point, to grasp the wriggling lubricity of 
these cunning animals, and to fix them in one position. We 


METHODISM. 145 


have said, in our review of the Methodists, that it is extremely 
wrong to suppose that Providence interferes with special and 
extraordinary judgments on every trifling occasion of life: that 
to represent an innkeeper killed for preventing a Methodist 
meeting, or loud claps of thunder rattling along the heavens, 
merely to hint to Mr. Scott that he was not to preach at a par- 
ticular tabernacle in Oxford-road, appeared to us to be blas- 
phemous and mischievous nonsense. With great events, 
which change the destiny of mankind, we might suppose such 
interference, the discovery of which, upon every trifling occa- 
sion, we considered to be pregnant with very mischievous 
consequences. ‘To all which Mr. Styles replies, that, with 
Providence, nothing is great, or nothing little,—nothing diffii- 
cult, or nothing easy; that a worm and a whale are equal in 
the estimation of a Supreme Being. But did any human being 
but a Methodist, and a third or fourth rate Methodist, ever 
make such a reply to such an argument? Weare not talking 
of what is great or important to Providence, but tous. The - 
creation of a worm or a whale, a Newton or a Styles, are 
tasks equally easy to Omnipotence. But are they, in their 
results, equally important to us? The lightning may as 
easily strike the head of the French emperor, as of an innocent 
cottager ; but we are surely neither impious nor obscure, when 
we say, that one would be an important interference of Provi- 
dence, and the other comparatively not so. But it is a loss of 
time to reply to such trash; it presents no stimulus of difficulty 
to us, nor would it offer any of novelty to our readers. 

To our attack upon the melancholy tendency of Methodism, 
Mr. Styles replies, ‘that a man must have studied in the 
schools of Hume, Voltaire, and Kotzebue, who can plead in 
behalf of the theatre; that, at fashionable ball-rooms and as- 
semblies, seduction is drawn out to a system; that dancing 
excites the fever of the passions, and raises a delirium too often 
fatal to innocence and peace; and that, for the poor, instead of 
the common rough amusements to which they are now 
addicted, there remain the simple beauties of nature, the gay 
colours, and scented perfumes of the earth.’ ‘These are the 
blessings which the common people have to expect from their 
Methodistical instructors. They are pilfered of all their 
money,—shut out from all their dances and country wakes,— 
and are then sent pennyless into the fields, to gaze on the 
clouds, and to smell dandelions! 


146 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Against the orthodox clergy of all descriptions, our sour 
devotee proclaims, as was to have been expected, the most 
implacable war,—declaring that, ‘in one century, they would 
have obliterated all the remaining practical religion in the 
church, had it not been for this new sect, every where spoken 
against.’ Undoubtedly, the distinction of mankind into god- 
ly and ungodly—if by godly is really meant those who apply 
religion to the extinction of bad passions—would be highly 
desirable. But when, by that word, is only intended a sect 
more desirous of possessing the appellation than of deserving 
it,—when, under that term, are comprehended thousands of 
canting hypocrites and raving enthusiasts—men despicable 
from their ignorance, and formidable from their madness,— 
the distinction may hereafter prove to be truly terrific; and a 
dynasty of fools may again sweep away both church and state 
in one hideous ruin. ‘There may be, at present, some very 
respectable men at the head of these maniacs, who would in- 
sanify them with some degree of prudence, and keep them 
only half mad, if they could. But this won’t do; Bedlam 
will break loose, and overpower its keepers. If the preacher 
sees visions, and has visitations, the clerk will come next, and 
then the congregation; every man will be his own prophet, 
and dream dreams for himself: the competition in extravagance 
will be hot and lively, and the whole island a receptacle for 
incurables. ‘There is, at this moment, a man in London who 
prays for what garments he wants, and finds them next morn- 
ing in his room, tight and fitting. ‘This man, as might be ex- 
pected, gains between two and three thousand a year from the 
common people, by preaching. Anna, the -prophetess, en- 
camps in the woods of America, with thirteen or fourteen thou- 
sand followers, and has visits every night from the prophet 
Elijah. Joanna Southcote. raises the dead, &c. &c. Mr. 
Styles will call us atheists, and disciples of the French school, 
for what we are about to say; but it is our decided opinion, 
that there is some fraud in the prophetic visit; and it is but too 
probable, that the clothes are merely human, and the man 
measured for them in the common way. When such blas- 
phemous deceptions are practised upon mankind, how ean re- 
monstrance be misplaced, or exposure mischievous? If the 
choice rested with us, we should say,—give us back our 
wolves again,—restore our Danish invaders,—curse us with 
any evil but the evil of a canting, deluded, and Methodistical 


METHODISM. 147 


populace. Wherever Methodism extends its baneful influence, 
the character of the English people is constantly changed by 
it. Boldness and rough honesty are broken down into mean- 
ness, prevarication, and fraud. 

While Mr. Styles is so severe upon the indolence of the 
Chureh, he should recollect that his Methodists are the ex- 
party ; that it is not in human nature, that any persons who 
quietly possess power, can be as active as those who are pur- 
suing it. The fair way to state the merit of the two parties is, 
to estimate what the exertions of the lachrymal and suspirious 
clergy would be, if they stepped into the endowments of their 
competitors. ‘The moment they ceased to be paid by the 
groan,—the instant that Easter offerings no longer depended 
upon jumping and convulsions,—Mr. Styles may assure him- 
self, that the character of his darling preachers would be totally 
changed; their bodies would become quiet, and their minds 
reasonable. . 

It is not true, as this bad writer is perpetually saying, that 
the world hates piety. That modest and unobtrusive piety 
which fills the heart with all human charities, and makes a 
man gentle to others, and severe to himself, is an object of 
universal love and veneration. But mankind hate the lust of 
power when it is veiled under the garb of piety ;—they hate 
canting and hypocrisy ;—they hate advertisers and quacks and 
piety ;—they do not choose to be insulted ;—they love to tear 
folly and imprudence from that altar which should only bea 
sanctuary for the wretched and the good. 

Having concluded his defence of Methodism, this fanatical 
writer opens upon us his Missionary battery, firing away with 
the most incessant fury, and calling names, all the time, as 
loud as lungs accustomed to the eloquence of the tub usually 
vociferate. In speaking of the ecruelties which their religion 
entails upon the Hindoos, Mr. Styles is peculiarly severe upon 
us for not being more shocked at their piercing their limbs 
with kimes. ‘This is rather an unfair mode of alarming his 
readers with the idea of some unknown instrument. He repre- 
sents himself as having paid considerable attention to the man- 
ners and customs of the Hindoos; and, therefore, the peculiar 
stress he lays upon this instrument is naturally calculated to 
produce, in the minds of the humane, a great degree of myste- 
rious terror. A drawing of the kime was imperiously called 
for; and the want of it is a subtle evasion, for which Mr. 


148 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Styles is fairly accountable. As he has been silent on this 
subject, it is for us to explain the plan and nature of this terrible 
and unknown piece of mechanism. <A kime, then, is neither 
more nor less than a false print in the Edinburgh Review for 
a knife; and from this blunder of the printer has Mr. Styles — 
manufactured this Dedalean instrument of torture, called a 
kime! We were at first nearly persuaded by his arguments 
against kimes s—we grew frightened ;—we stated to ourselves 
the horror of not sending missionaries to a nation which used 
kimes s—we were struck with the nice and accurate informa- 
tion of the Tabernacle upon this important subject :——-but we 
looked in the errata, and found Mr. Styles to be always Mr. 
Styles,—always cut off from every hope of mercy, and remain- 
ing for ever himself. 

Mr. Styles is right in saying we have abolished many prac- 
tices of the Hindoos since the establishment of our empire; 
but then we have always consulted the Brahmins, whether or 
not such practices were conformable to their religion; and it 
is upon the authority of their condemnation that we have pro- 
ceeded to abolition. 

To the whole of Mr. Styles’s observations upon the intro- 
duction of Christianity into India, we have one short answer:— 
it is not Christianity which is introduced there, but the debased 
mummery and nonsense of Methodists, which has little more 
to do with the Christian religion than it has to do with the 
religion of China. We would as soon consent that Brodum 
and Solomon should carry the medical art of Europe into India, 
as that Mr. Styles and his Anabaptists should give to the East- 
ern World their notions of our religion. We send men of the 
highest character for the administration of justice and the 
regulation of trade,—nay, we take great pains to impress 
upon the minds of the natives the highest ideas of our arts and 
manufactures, by laying before them the finest specimens of 
our skill and ingenuity,—why, then, are common sense and 
decency to be forgotten in religion alone? and so foolish a set 
of men allowed to engage themselves in this occupation, that 
the natives almost instinctively duck and pelt them? But the 
missionaries, we are told, have mastered the languages of the 
East. ‘They may also, for aught we know, in the same time, 
have learnt perspective, astronomy, or any thing else. What 
is all this tous? Our charge is, that they want sense, con- 
duct, and sound religion; and that, if they are not watched, 


METHODISM. 149 


the throat of every European in India will be cut:—the answer 
to which is, that their progress in languages is truly astonish- 
ing! If they expose us to eminent peril, what matters it if 
they have every virtue under heaven? We are not writing 
dissertations upon the intellect of Brother Carey, but stating 
his character so far as it concerns us, and caring for it no fur- 
ther. But these pious gentlemen care nothing about the loss 
of the country. ‘The plan, it seems, is this:—We are to edu- 
cate India in Christianity, as a parent does his child; and, 
when it is perfect in its catechism, then to pack up, quit it 
entirely, and leave it to its own management. ‘This is the 
evangelical project for separating a colony from the parent 
country. They see nothing of the bloodshed, and massacres, 
and devastations, nor of the speeches in parliament, squandered 
millions, fruitless expeditions, jobs and pensions, with which 
the loss of our Indian possessions would necessarily be accom- 
panied; nor will they see that these consequences could arise 
from the attempt, and not from the completion, of their scheme 
of conversion. We should be swept from the peninsula by 
Pagan zealots ; and should lose, among other things, all chance 
of ever really converting them. 

What is the use, too, of telling us what these men endure? 
Suffering is not a merit, but only useful suffering. Prove to 
us that they are fit men, doing a fit thing, and we are ready to 
praise the missionaries; but it gives us no pleasure to hear 
that aman has walked a thousand miles with peas in his shoes, 
unless we know why, and wherefore, and to what good pur- 
pose he has done it. 

But these men, it is urged, foolish and extravagant as they 
are, may be very useful precursors of the established clergy. 
This is much as if a regular physician should send a quack 
doctor before him, and say, do you go and look after this 
disease for a day or two, and ply the patient well with your 
nostrums, and then I will step in and complete the cure ;—a 
more notable expedient we have seldom heard of. Its patrons 
forget that these self-ordained ministers, with Mr. John Styles 
at their head, abominate the established clergy ten thousand 
times more than they do Pagans, who cut themselves with 
cruel kimes. ‘The efforts of these precursors would be directed 
with infinitely more zeal to make the Hindoos disbelieve in 
Bishops, than to make them believe in Christ. The darling 
passion in the soul of every missionary is, not to teach the 


150 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


great leading truths of the Christian faith, but to enforce the 
little paltry modification and distinction which he first taught 
from his own tub. And then what a way of teaching Christi- 
anity is this! ‘There are five sects, if not six, now employed 
as missionaries, every one instructing the Hindoos in their 
own particular method of interpreting the Scriptures; and, 
when these have completely succeeded, the Church of England 
is to step in, and convert them all over again to its own doc- 
trines. ‘There is, indeed, a very fine varnish of probability 
over this ingenious and plausible scheme. Mr. John Styles, 
however, would much rather see a kime in the flesh of an 
Hindoo than the hand of a Bishop on his head. 

The missionaries complain of intolerance. A weasel might 
as well complain of intolerance when he is throttled for suck- 
ing eggs. ‘Toleration for their own opinions,—toleration for 
their domestic worship, for their private groans and convul- 
sions, they possess in the fullest extent; but who ever heard of 
toleration for intolerance? Who ever before heard men ery 
out that they were persecuted, because they might not insult 
the religion, shock the feelings, irritate the passions of their 
fellow-creatures, and throw a whole colony into bloodshed 
and confusion? We did not say that a man was not an object 
of pity who tormented himself from a sense of duty, but that 
he was not so great an object of pity as one equally tormented 
by the tyranny of another, and without any sense of duty to 
support him. Let Mr. Styles first inflict forty lashes upon 
himself, then let him allow an Edinburgh Reviewer to give 
him forty more,—he will find no comparison between the two 
flagellations. 

These men talk of the loss of our possessions in India as if 
it made the argument against them only more or less strong; 
whereas, in our estimation, it makes the argument against them 
conclusive, and shuts up the case. ‘I'wo men possess a cow, 
and they quarrel violently how they shall manage this cow. 
They will surely both of them (if they have a particle of com- 
mon sense) agree, that there is an absolute necessity for pre- 
venting the cow from running away. It is not only the loss 
of India that is in question,—but how will it be lost?) By the 
massacre of ten or twenty thousand English, by the blood of 
our sons and brothers, who have been toiling so many years 
to return to their native country. But whatis all this to a fero- 


METHODISM. 151 


cious Methodist? What care brothers Barrel and Ringletub 
for us and our colonies ? 

If it were possible to invent a method by which a few men 
sent from a distant country could hold such masses of people 
as the Hindoos in subjection, that method would be the insti- 
tution of castes. ‘There is no institution which can so effec- 
tually curb the ambition of genius, reconcile the individual 
more completely to his station, and reduce the varieties of hu- 
man character to such a state of insipid and monotonous tame- 
ness; and yet the religion which destroys castes is said to 
render our empire in India more certain! It may be our duty 
to make the Hindoos Christians,—that is another argument: 
but, that we shall by so doing strengthen our empire, we 
utterly deny. What signifies identity of religion to a question 
of this kind? Diversity of bodily colour and of language 
would soon overpower this consideration. Make the Hindoos 
enterprising, active, and reasonable as yourselves,—destroy 
the eternal track in which they have moved for ages,—and, in 
a moment, they would sweep you off the face of the earth. 
Let us ask, too, if the Bible is universally diffused in Hindos- 
tan, what must be the astonishment of the natives to find that 
we are forbidden to rob, murder, and steal ;—we who, in fifty 
years, have extended our empire from a few acres about Ma- 
dras over the whole peninsula, and sixty millions of people, 
and exemplified in our public conduct every crime of which 
human nature is capable. What matchless impudence to fol- 
low up such practice with such precepts!. If we have com- 
mon prudence, let-us keep the gospel at home, and tell them 
that Machiavel is our prophet, and the god of the Manicheans 
our god. - 

There is nothing which disgusts us more than the familiarity 
which these impious coxcombs affect with the ways and de- 
signs of Providence. Every man, now-a-days, is an .@mos 
or a Malachi. One rushes out of his chambers, and tells us 
we are beaten by the French, because we do not abolish the 
slave-trade. Another assures us, that we have no chance of 
victory till India is evangelized. ‘The new Christians are now 
come to speak of the ways of their Creator with as much con- 
fidence as they would of the plans of an earthly ruler. We 
remember when the ways of God to man were gazed upon 
with trembling humility,—when they were called inscrutable, 
—when piety looked to another scene of existence for the 


152 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


true explanation of this ambiguous and distressing world. We 
were taught in our childhood that this was true religion; 
but it turns out now to be nothing but atheism and infidelity. 
if any thing could surprise us from the pen of a Methodist, 
we should be truly surprised at the very irreligious and pre- 
sumptuous answer which Mr. Styles makes to some of our 
arguments. Our title to one of the anecdotes from the Metho- 
dist Magazine is as follows:—‘2 sinner punished—-a Bee 
the instrument ;’ to which Mr. Styles replies, that we might 
as well ridicule the Scriptures, by relating their contents in 
the same ludicrous manner. An interference with respect to 
a travelling Jew; blindness the consequence. Acts, the 
ninth chapter, and first nine verses. The account of Paul’s 
conversion, §c. &c. Sc. page 38. But does Mr. Styles for- 
get, that the one is a shameless falsehood, introduced to sell a 
twopenny book, and the other a miracle recorded by inspired 
writers? In the same manner, when we express our surprise 
that sixty millions of Hindoos should be converted by four 
men and sixteen guineas, he asks, what would have become 
of Christianity if the twelve Apostles had argued in the same 
way? It is impossible to make this infatuated gentleman un- 
derstand that the lies of the Evangelical Magazine are not the 
miracles of Scripture; and that the Baptist Missionaries are 
not the Apostles. He seriously expects that we should speak 
of Brother Carey as we would speak of St. Paul; and. treat 
with an equal respect the miracles of the Magazine and the 
Gospel. 

Mr. Styles knows very well that we have never said, be- 
cause a nation has present happiness, that it can therefore dis- 
pense with immortal happiness; but we have said that, where 
of two nations both cannot be made Christians, it is more the 
duty of a missionary to convert the one, which is exposed to 
every evil of barbarism, than the other possessing every bless- 
ing of civilization. Our argument is merely comparative: 
Mr. Styles must have known it to be so:——but who does not 
love the 'fabernacle better than truth? When the tenacity of 
the Hindoos on the subject of their religion is adduced as a 
reason against the success of the missions, the friends of this 
understanding are always fond of reminding us how patiently 
the Hindoos submitted to the religious persecutions and 
butchery of ‘Tippoo. ‘The inference from such citations is 
truly alarming. It is the imperious duty of Government to 


METHODISM. 1538 


watch some of these men most narrowly. There is nothing 
of which they are not capable. And what, after all, did ‘Tip- 
poo effect in the way of conversion? How many Mahome- 
dans did he make? ‘There was all the carnage of Medea’s 
Kettle, and none of the transformation. He deprived multi- 
tudes of Hindoos of their caste, indeed; and cut them off 
from all the benefits of their religion. ‘That he did, and we 
may do, by violence: but, did he make Mahomedans?—or 
shall we make Christians? This, however, it seems, is a 
matter of pleasantry. ‘To make a poor Hindoo hateful to 
himself and his kindred, and to fix a curse upon him to the 
end of his days!—we have no doubt but that this is very 
entertaining; and particularly to the friends of toleration. But 
our ideas of comedy have been formed in another school. We 
are dull enough to think, too, that it is more innocent to exile 
pigs than to offend conscience, and destroy human happiness. 
The scheme of baptizing with heef broth is about as brutal 
and preposterous as the assertion that you may vilify the 
gods and priests of the Hindoos with safety, provided you 
do not meddle with their turbans and toupees, (which are 
cherished solely on a principle of religion,) is silly and con- 
temptible. After all,if the Mahomedan did persecute the Hin- 
doo with impunity, is that any precedent of safety to a govern- 
ment that offends every feeling both of Mahomedan and Hin- 
doo at the same time? You have a tiger and a buffalo in the 
same enclosure; and the tiger drives the buffalo before him ;— 
is it therefore prudent in you to do that which will irritate 
them both, and bring their united strength upon you? 

In answer to the low malignity of this author, we have only 
to reply, that we are, as we always have been, sincere friends 
to the conversion of the Hindoos. We admit the Hindoo re- 
ligion to be full of follies, and full of enormities ;—we think 
conversion a great duty; and should think it, if it could be 
effected, a great blessing; but our opinion of the missionaries 
and of their employer is such, that we most firmly believe, in 
less than twenty years, for the conversion of a few degraded 
wretches, who would be neither Methodists nor Hindoos, they 
would infallibly produce the massacre of every European in 
India;* the loss of our settlements ; and, consequently, of the 


* Every opponent says of Major Scott’s book, ‘ What a dangerous 
book! the arrival of it at Calcutta may throw the whole Indian em- 
VoL. 1.—I11 


154 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


chance of that slow, solid, and temperate introduction of 
Christianity, which the superiority of the European character 
may ultimately effect in the Eastern world. The Board of 
Control (all Atheists, and disciples of Voltaire, of course) are 
so entirely of our way of thinking, that the most peremptory 
orders have been issued to send all the missionaries home 
upon the slightest appearance of disturbance. ‘Those who 
have sons and brothers in India may now sleep in peace. 
Upon the transmission of this order, Mr. Styles is said to have 
destroyed himself with a kime. 


pire into confusion;—and yet these are the people whose religious 
prejudices may be insulted with impunity. 


HANNAH MORE. 155 


HANNAH MORE. (Eprnsuneu Review, 1809.) 


Celebs in Search of a Wife; comprehending Observations on Domestic 
Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals. 2 Vols. London, 1809. 


Tis book is written, or supposed to be written, (for we would 
speak timidly of the mysteries of superior beings,) by the 
celebrated Mrs. Hannah More! We shall probably give great 
offence by such indiscretion ; but still we must be excused for 
treating it as a book merely human,—an uninspired produc- 
tion,—the result of mortality left to itself, and depending on 
its own limited resources. In taking up the subject in this 
point of view, we solemnly disclaim the slightest intention of 
indulging in any indecorous levity, or of wounding the reli- 
gious feelings of a large class of very respectable persons. It 
is the only method in which we can possibly make this work 
a proper object of criticism. We have the strongest possible 
doubts of the attributes usually ascribed to this authoress ; and 
we think it more simple and manly to say so at once, than to 
admit nominally superlunary claims, which, in the progress 
of our remarks, we should virtually deny. 

Celebs wants a wife ; and, after the death of his father, quits 
his estate in Northumberland to see the world, and to seek 
for one of its best productions, a woman, who may add mate- 
rially to the happiness of his future life. His first journey is 
to London, where, in the midst of the gay society of the me- 
tropolis, of course, he does not find a wife ; and his next jour- 
ney is to the family of Mr. Stanley, the head of the Metho- 
dists, a serious people, where, of course, he does find a wife. 
The exaltation, therefore, of what the authoress deems to be 
the religious, and the depreciation of what she considers to be 
the worldly character, and the influence of both upon matri- 
monial happiness form the subject of this novel,—rather of this 
dramatic sermon. 

The machinery upon which the discourse is suspended is 
of the slightest and most inartificial texure, bearing every 
mark of haste, and possessing not the slightest claim to merit. 


156 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Events there are none; and scarcely a character of any inte- 
rest. ‘The book is intended to convey religious advice ; and 
no more labour appears to have been bestowed upon the story, 
than was merely sufficient to throw it out of the dry, didactic 
form. Lucilla is totally uninteresting; so is Mr. Stanley ; 
Dr. Barlow still worse; and Celebs a mere clod or dolt. 
Sir John and Lady Belfield are rather more interesting—and 
for a very obvious reason: they have some faults ;—they put 
us in mind of men and women ;—they seem to belong to one 
common nature with ourselves. As we read, we seem to 
think we might act as such people act, and therefore we attend ; 
whereas imitation is hopeless in the more perfect characters 
which Mrs. More has set before us; and therefore they in- 
spire us with very little interest. 

There are books, however, of all kinds; and those may not 
be unwisely planned which set before us very pure models. 
They are less probable, and therefore less amusing, than ordi- 
nary stories ; but they are more amusing than plain, unfabled 
precept. Sir Charles Grandison is less agreeable than ‘Tom 
Jones; but it is more agreeable than Sherlock and Tillotson ; 
and teaches religion and morality to many who would not seek 
it in the productions of these professional writers. 

But, making every allowance for the difficulty of the task 
which Mrs. More has prescribed to herself, the book abounds 
with marks of negligence and want of skill; with representa- 
tions of life and manners which are either false or trite. 

Temples to friendship and virtue must be totally laid aside, 
for many years to come, in novels. Mr. Lane, of the Minerva 
Press, has given them up long since; and we were quite sur- 
prised to find such a writer as Mrs. More busied in moral 
brick and mortar. Such an idea, at first, was merely juve- 
nile; the second time, a little nauseous ; but the ten thousandth 
time it is quite intolerable. Ccelebs, upon his first arrival in 
London, dines out,—meets with agbad dinner,—supposes the 
cause of that bad dinner to be the erudition of the ladies of the 
house,—talks to them upon learned subjects, and finds them 
as dull and ignorant as if they had piqued themselves upon all 
the mysteries of housewifery. We humbly submit to Mrs, 
More, that this is not humorous, but strained and unnatural. 
Philippies against frugivorous children after dinner are too 
common, Lady Melbury has been introduced into every 
novel for these four years last past. Peace to her ashes! 


HANNAH MORE. 157 


The characters in this novel which evince the greatest skill 
are unquestionably those of Mrs. Ranby and her daughters. 
There are some scenes in this part of the book extremely well 
painted, and which evince that Mrs. More could amuse, in no 
common degree, if amusement was her object. 


‘ At tea I found the young ladies took no more interest in the con- 
versation than they had done at dinner, but sat whispering and laugh- 
ing, and netting white silk gloves, till they were summoned to the 
harpsichord. Despairing of getting on with them in company, I pro- 
posed a walk in the garden. I now found them as willing to talk as 
destitute of any thing to say. Their conversation was vapid and 
frivolous. They laid great stress on small things. They seemed to 
have no shades in their understanding, but used the strongest terms 
for the commonest occasions ; and admiration was excited by things 
hardly worthy to command attention. They were extremely glad and 
extremely sorry on subjects not calculated to excite affections of any 
kind. ‘They were animated about trifles, and indifferent on things of 
importance. They were, I must confess, frank and good-natured ; 
but it was evident that, as they were too open to have any thing to 
conceal, so they were too uninformed to have any thing to produce; 
and I was resolved not to risk my happiness with a woman who could 
not contribute her full share towards spending a wet winter cheerfully 
in the country. —(I. 54, 55.) 


This trait of character appears to us to be very good. The 
following passage is still better. 


‘In the evening, Mrs. Ranby was lamenting in general, in rather 
customary terms, her own exceeding sinfulness. Mr. Ranby said, 
“You accuse yourself rather too heavily, my dear; you have sins to 
be sure.” “And pray what sins have I, Mr. Ranby ?” said she, turn- 
ing upon him with so much quickness that the poor man started. 
‘‘ Nay,” said he, meekly, “I did not mean to offend you; so far from 
it, that, hearing you condemn yourself so grievously, I intended to 
comfort you, and to say that, except a few faults ” «And pray 
what faults?” interrupted she, continuing to speak, however, lest he 
should catch an interval to tell them. “I defy you, Mr. Ranby, to 
produce one.” “My dear,” replied he, “as you charged yourself 
with all, I thought it would be letting you off cheaply, by naming only 
two or three, such as ” Here, fearing matters would go too far, 
I interposed; and, softening things as much as I could for the lady, 
said, “I conceived that Mr. Ranby meant, that though she partook 
of the general corruption ” Here Ranby, interrupting me with 
more spirit than I thought he possessed, said, “ General corruption, 
sir, must be the sotirce of particular corruption. I did not mean that 
my wife was worse than other women.” —*“ Worse, Mr. Ranby, worse?” 
cried she. Ranby, for the first time in his life, not minding her, went 
on, “ As she is always insisting that the whole species is corrupt, she 
cannot help allowing that she herself has not quite escaped the infec- 











158 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


tion. Now, to be a sinner in the gross, and a saint in the detail—that 
“ x have all sins, and no faults—is a thing I do not quite compre- 
end. 

‘ After he had left the room, which he did as the shortest way of 
allaying the storm, she, apologizing for him, said, “he was a well- 
meaning man, and acted up to the little light he had;” but added, 
“that he was unacquainted with religious feelings, and knew little of 
the nature of conversion.” 

‘Mrs. Ranby, I found, seems to consider Christianity as a kind of 
free-masonry ; and therefore thinks it superfluous to speak on serious 
subjects to any but the initiated. If they do not return the sign, she 
gives them up as blind and dead. She thinks she can only make 
herself intelligible to those to whom certain peculiar phrases are 
familiar: and though her friends may be correct, devout, and both 
doctrinally and practically pious; yet, if they cannot catch a certain 
mystic meaning,—if there is not a sympathy of intelligence between 
her and them,—if they do not fully conceive of impressions, and can- 
not respond to mysterious communications, she holds them unworthy 
of intercourse with her. She does not so much insist on high moral 
excellence as the criterion of their worth, as on their own account of 
their internal feelings. —(I. 60—63.) 

The great object kept in view, throughout the whole of this 
introduction, is the enforcement of religious principle, and the 
condemnation of a life lavished in dissipation and fashionable 
amusement. In the pursuit of this object, it appears to us 
that Mrs. More is much too severe upon the ordinary amuse- 
ments of mankind, many of which she does not object to in this 
or that degree, but altogether. Ccelebs and Lucilla, her optimus 
and optima, never dance, and never go to the play. They not 
only stay away from the comedies of Congreve and Farquhar, for 
which they may easily enough be forgiven; but they never go 
to see Mrs. Siddons in the Gamester, or in Jane Shore. The 
finest exhibition of talent, and the most beautiful moral lessons, 
are interdicted at the theatre. ‘There is something in the word 
Playhouse which seems so closely connected, in the minds of 
these people, with sin and Satan,—that it stands in their 
vocabulary for every species of abomination. And yet why? 
Where is every feeling more roused in favour of virtue than 
ata good play? Where is goodness so feelingly, so enthusi- 
astically learnt? What so solemn as to see the excellent pas- 
sions of the human heart called forth by a great actor, animated 
by a great poet? To hear Siddons repeat what Shakspeare 
wrote! ‘To behold the child and his mother—the noble and 
the poor artisan—the monarch and his subjects—all ages and 
all ranks convulsed with one common passion—wrung with 


HANNAH MORE. 159 


one common anguish, and, with loud sobs and cries, doing 
involuntary homage to the God that made their hearts! What 
wretched infatuation to interdict such amusements as these ! 
What a blessing that mankind can be allured from sensual 
gratification, and find relaxation and pleasure in such pursuits! 
But the excellent Mr. Stanley is uniformly paltry and nar- 
row,—always trembling at the idea of being entertained, and 
thinking no Christian safe who is not dull. As to the spec- 
tacles of impropriety which are sometimes witnessed in parts 
of the theatre, such reasons apply, in a much stronger degree, 
to not driving along the Strand, or any of the great public 
streets of London, after dark; and, if the virtue of well-edu- 
cated young persons is made of such very frail materials, their 
best resource is a nunnery at once. It is a very bad rule, 
however, never to quit the house for fear of catching cold. 

Mrs. More practically extends the same doctrine to cards 
and assemblies. No cards—because cards are employed in 
gaming; no assemblies—because many dissipated persons 
pass their lives in assemblies. Carry this but a little further, 
and we must say, no wine—because of drunkenness; no meat— 
because of gluttony; no use, that there may be no abuse! 
The fact is, that Mr. Stanley wants, not only to be religious, 
but to be at the head of the religious. These little abstinences 
are the cockades by which the party are known,—the rallying 
points for the evangelical faction. So natural is the love of 
power, that it sometimes becomes the influencing motive with 
the sincere advocates of that blessed religion whose very cha- 
racteristic excellence is the humility which it inculcates. 

We observe that Mrs. More, in one part of her work, falls 
into the common error about dress. She first blames ladies 
for exposing their persons in the present style of dress, and 
then says, if they knew their own interest,—if they were aware 
how much more alluring they were to men when their charms 
are less displayed, they would make the desired alteration from 
motives merely selfish. 


‘Oh! if women in general knew what was their real interest, if they 
could guess with what a charm even the appearance of modesty invests 
its possessor, they would dress decorously from mere self-love, if not 
from principle. The designing would assume modesty as an artifice ; 
the coquette would adopt it as an allurement; the pure as her appro- 


priate attraction; and the voluptuous as the most infallible art of seduc- 
tion.’—(I. 189.) 


160 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


If there is any truth in this passage, nudity becomes a 
virtue; and no decent woman, for the future, can be seen in 
garments. 

We have a few more of Mrs. More’s opinions to notice.— 
It is not fair to attack the religion of the times, because, in 
large and indiscriminate parties, religion does not become the 
subject of conversation. Conversation must and ought to 
grow out of materials on which men can agree, not upon sub- 
jects which try the passions. But this good lady wants to see 
men chatting together upon the Pelagian heresy—to hear, in 
the afternoon, the theological rumours of the day—and to glean 
polemical tittle-tattle at a tea-table rout. All the disciples of 
this school uniformly fall into the same mistake. ‘They are 
perpetually calling upon their votaries for religious thoughts 
and religious conversation in every thing; inviting them to 
ride, walk, row, wrestle, and dine out religiously ;—forgetting 
that the being to whom this impossible purity is recommended, 
is a being compelled to scramble for his existence and support 
for ten hours out of the sixteen he is awake ;—forgetting that 
he must dig, beg, read, think, move, pay, receive, praise, scold, 
command, and obey ;—forgetting, also, that if men conversed 
as often upon religious subjects as they do upon the ordinary 
occurrences of the world, they would converse upon them with 
the same familiarity and want of respect,—that religion would 
then produce feelings not more solemn or exalted than any 
other topics which constitute at present the common furniture 
of human understandings. 

We are glad to find in this work some strong compliments 
to the efficacy of works,—some distinct admissions that it is 
necessary to be honest and just, before we can be considered 
as religious. Such sort of concessions are very gratifying to 
us; but how will they be received by the children of the 
Tabernacle? Itis quite clear, indeed, throughout the whole of 
the work, that an apologetical explanation of certain religious 
opinions is intended; and there is a considerable abatement of 
that tone of insolence with which the improved Christians are 
apt to treat the bungling specimens of piety to be met with in 
the more ancient churches. 

So much for the extravagances of this lady.—With equal 
sincerity, and with greater pleasure, we bear testimony to her 
talents, her good sense, and her real piety. ‘There occur 
every now and then, in her productions, very original, and 


HANNAH MORE. 161 


very profound observations. Her advice is very often charac- 
terized by the most amiable good sense, and conveyed in the 
most brilliant and inviting style. If, instead of belonging to a 
trumpery faction, she had only watched over those great 
points of religion in which the hearts of every sect of Christians 
are interested, she would have been one of the most useful and 
valuable writers of her day. As it is, every man would wish 
his wife and his children to read Celebs s—watching himself 
its effects;—separating the piety from the puerility ;—and 
showing that it is very possible to be a good Christian, with- 
out degrading the human understanding to the trash and folly 
of Methodism. 


162 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. (Epinsurcn Review, 1809.) 


Essays on Professional Education. By R.L. Edgeworth, Esq. F.R.S. &c. 
London. 1809. 


THERE are two questions to be asked respecting every new 
publication. Is it worth buying? Is it worth borrowing? 
and we would advise our readers to weigh diligently the im- 
portance of these interrogations, before they take any decided 
step as to this work of Mr. Edgeworth; the more especially 
as the name carries with it considerable authority, and seems, 
in the estimation of the unwary, almost to include the idea of 
purchase. For our own part, we would rather decline giving a 
direct answer to these questions; and shall content ourselves 
for the present with making a few such slight observations as 
may enable the sagacious to conjecture what our direct answer 
would be were we compelled to be more explicit. 

One great and signal praise we think to be the eminent due 
of Mr. Edgeworth: in a canting age he does not cant ;—at a 
period when hypocrisy and fanaticism will almost certainly 
insure the success of any publication, he has constantly dis- 
dained to have recourse to any such arts;—without ever 
having been accused of disloyalty or irreligion, he is not 
always harping upon Church and King, in order to catch at a 
little popularity, and sell his books ;—he is manly, independent, 
liberal—-and maintains enlightened opinions with discretion 
and honesty. There is also in this work of Mr. Edgeworth 
an agreeable diffusion of anecdote and example, such as a man 
acquires who reads with a view to talking or writing. With 
these merits, we cannot say that Mr. Edgeworth is either very 
new, very profound, or very apt to be right in his opinion. 
He is active, enterprising, and unprejudiced ; but we have not 
been very much instructed by what he has written, or always 
satisfied that he has got to the bottom of his subject. 

On one subject, however, we cordially agree with this 
gentleman; and return him our thanks for the courage with 
which he has combated the excessive abuse of classical learn- 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 163 


ing in England. It is a subject upon which we have long 
wished for an opportunity of saying something; and one 
which we consider to be of the very highest importance. 


‘The principal defect,’ says Mr. Edgeworth, ‘in the present system 
of our great schools is, that they devote too large a portion of time to 
Latin and Greek. It is true, that the attainment of classical literature 
is highly desirable ; but it should not, or rather it need not, be the ex- 
clusive object of boys during eight or nine years. 

‘Much less time, judiciously managed, would give them an ac- 
quaintance with the classics sufficient for all useful purposes, and 
would make them as good scholars as gentlemen or professional men 
need to be. It is not requisite that every man should make Latin or 
Greek verses; therefore, a knowledge of prosody beyond the struc- 
ture of hexameter and pentameter verses, is as worthless an acquisi- 
tion as any which folly or fashion has introduced amongst the higher 
classes of mankind. It must indeed be acknowledged that there are 
some rare exceptions; but even party prejudice would allow, that the 
persons alluded to must have risen to eminence though they had 
never written sapphics or iambics. ‘Though preceptors, parents, and 
the public in general, may be convinced of the absurdity of making 
boys spend so much of life in learning what can be of no use to 
them; such are the difficulties of making any change in the ancient 
rules of great establishments, that masters themselves, however rea- 
sonable, dare not, and cannot make sudden alterations. 

‘The only remedies that can be suggested might be, perhaps, to 
take those boys, who are not intended for professions in which deep 
scholarship is necessary, away from school before they reach the 
highest classes, where prosody and Greek and Latin verses are re- 
quired. 

‘In the college of Dublin, where an admirable course of instruc- 
tion has been long established, where this course is superintended by 
men of acknowledged learning and abilities, and pursued by students 
of uncommon industry, such is the force of example, and such the 
fear of appearing inferior in trifles to English universities, that much 
pains have been lately taken to introduce the practice of writing 
Greek and Latin verses, and much solicitude has been shown about 
the prosody of the learned languages, without any attention being 
paid to the prosody of our own. 

‘ Boarding-houses for the scholars at Eton and Westminster, which 
are at present mere lodging houses, might be kept by private tutors, 
who might, during the hours when the boys were not in their public 
classes, assist them in acquiring general literature, or such know- 
ledge as might be advantageous for their respective professions. 

‘New schools, that are not restricted to any established routine, 
should give a fair trial to experiments in education, which afford a 
rational prospect of success. If nothing can be altered in the old 
schools, leave them as they are. Destroy nothing—injure none—but 
let the public try whether they cannot have something better. If the 
experiment do not succeed, the public will be convinced that they 


164 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ought to acquiesce in the established methods of instruction, and 
parents will send their children to the ancient seminaries with 
increased confidence.’—(p. 47—49.) 


We are well aware that nothing very new can remain to be 
said upon a topic so often debated. ‘The complaints we have 
to make are at least as old as the time of Locke and Dr. 
Samuel Clarke; and the evil which is the subject of these 
complaints has certainly rather increased than diminished 
since the period of those two great men. An hundred years, 
to be sure, is a very little time for the duration of a national 
error; and it is so far from being reasonable to look for its 
decay at so short a date, that it can hardly be expected, within 
such limits, to have displayed the full bloom of its imbecility. 

There are several feelings to which attention must be paid, 
before the question of classical learning can be fairly and tem- 
perately discussed. 

We are apt, in the first place, to remember the immense 
benefits which the study of the classics once conferred on 
mankind; and to feel for those models on which the taste of 
Europe has been formed, something like sentiments of grati- 
tude and obligation. This is all well enough, so long as it 
continues to be a mere feeling; but, as soon as it interferes 
with action, it nourishes dangerous prejudices about education. 
Nothing will do in the pursuit of knowledge but the blackest 
ingratitude; the moment we have got up the ladder we must 
kick it down;—as soon as we have passed over the bridge, 
we must let it rot;--when we have got upon the shoulders of 
the ancients, we must look over their heads. ‘The man who 
forgets the friends of his childhood in real life, is base: but 
he who clings to the props of his childhood in literature, must 
be content to remain as ignorant as he was when a child. His 
business is to forget, disown, and deny—-to think himself 
above every thing which has been of use to him in time past— 
and to cultivate that exclusively from which he expects future 
advantage: in short, to do every thing for the advancement of 
his knowledge which it would be infamous to do for the ad- 
vancement of his fortune. If mankind still derive advantage 
from classical literature proportionate to the labour they be- 
stow upon it, let their labour and their study proceed; but the 
moment we cease to read Latin and Greek for the solid utility 
we derive from them, it would be a very romantic application 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 165 


of human talents to do so from any feeling of gratitude, and 
recollection of past service. 

To almost every Englishman up to the age of three or four 
and twenty, classical learning has been the great object of 
existence; and no man is very apt to suspect, or very much 
pleased to hear, that what he has done for so long a time was 
not worth doing. His classical literature, too, reminds every 
man of the scenes of his childhood, and brings to his fancy 
several of the most pleasing associations which we are capable 
of forming. A certain sort of vanity, also, very naturally 
grows among men occupied in a common pursuit. Classical 
quotations are the watch-words of scholars, by which they 
distinguish each other from the ignorant and illiterate; and 
Greek and Latin are insensibly become almost the only test 
of a cultivated mind. 

Some men through indolence, others through ignorance, 
and most through necessity, submit to the established educa- 
tion of the times; and seek for their children that species of 
distinction which happens, at the period in which they live, 
to be stamped with the approbation of mankind. This mere 
question of convenience every parent must determine for him- 
self. A poor man, who has his fortune to gain, must be a 
quibbling theologian, or a classical pedant, as fashion dictates ; 
and he must vary his error with the error of the times. But 
it would be much more fortunate for mankind, if the public 
opinion, which regulates the pursuits of individuals, were more 
wise and englightened than it at present is. 

All these considerations make it extremely difficult to pro- 
cure a candid hearing on this question ; and to refer this branch 
of education to the only proper criterion of every branch of 
education—its utility in future life. 

There are two questions which grow out of this subject: 
1st, How far is any sort of classical education useful? 2d, How 
far is that particular classical education adopted in this coun- 
try useful ? 

Latin and Greek are, in the first place, useful, as they inure 
children to intellectual difficulties, and make the life of a young 
student what it ought to be, a life of considerable labour. We 
do not, of course, mean to confine this praise exclusively to 
the study of Latin and Greek ; or to suppose that other diffi- 
culties might not be found which it would be useful to over- 
come: but though Latin and Greek have this merit in common 


166 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


with many arts and sciences, still they have it; and, if they do 
nothing else, they at least secure a solid and vigorous applica- 
tion ata period of life which materially influences all other 
periods. 

To go through the grammar of one language thoroughly is 
of great use for the mastery of every other grammar; because 
there obtains, through all languages, a certain analogy to each 
other in their grammatical construction. Latin and Greek 
have now mixed themselves etymologically with all the lan- 
guages of modern Europe—and with none more than our own; 
so that it is necessary to read these two tongues for other ob- 
jects than themselves. 

‘The two ancient languages are as mere inventions—as 
pieces of mechanism incomparably more beautiful than any of 
the modern languages of Europe: their mode of signifying 
time and case by terminations, instead of auxiliary verbs and 
participles, would of itself stamp their superiority. Add to 
this, the copiousness of the Greek language, with the fancy, 
majesty, and harmony of its compounds; and there are quite 
sufficient reasons why the classics should be studied for the 
beauties of language. Compared to them, merely as vehicles 
of thought and passion, all modern languages are dull, ill-con- 
trived, and barbarous. 

That a great part of the Scriptures has come down to us 
in the Greek language, is of itself a reason, if all others were 
wanting, why education should be planned so as to produce a 
supply of Greek scholars. 

‘The cultivation of style is very justly made a part of educa- 
tion. Every thing which is written is meant either to please 
or toinstruct. ‘The second object it is difficult to effect, with- 
out attending to the first; and the cultivation of style is the 
acquisition of those rules and literary habits which sagacity 
anticipates, or experience shows to be the most effectual means 
of pleasing. ‘Those works are the best which have longest 
stood the test of time, and pleased the greatest number of ex- 
ercised minds. Whatever, therefore, our conjectures may be, 
Wwe cannot be so sure that the best modern writers can afford 
us as good models as the ancients ;—we cannot be certain that 
they will live through the revolutions of the world, and con- 
tinue to please in every climate—under every species of go- 
vernment—through every stage of civilization. The moderns 
have been well taught by their masters ; but the time is hardly 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 167 


yet come when the necessity for such instruction no longer 
exists. We may still borrow descriptive power from Tacitus ; 
dignified perspicuity from Livy ; simplicity from Cesar; and 
from Homer some portion of that light and heat which, dis- 
persed into ten thousand channels, has filled the world with 
bright images and illustrious thoughts. Let the cultivator of 
modern literature addict himself to the purest models of taste 
which France, Italy, and England could supply, he might still 
learn from Virgil to be majestic, and from ‘Tibullus to be ten- 
der; he might not yet look upon the face of nature as Theocri- 
tus saw it; nor might he reach those springs of pathos with 
which Euripides softened the hearts of his audience. In short, 
it appears to us, that there are so many excellent reasons why 
a certain number of scholars should be kept up in this and in 
every civilized country, that we should consider every system 
of education from which classical education was excluded, as 
radically erroneous and completely absurd. 

That vast advantages, then, may be derived from classical 
learning, there can be no doubt. ‘The advantages which are 
derived from classical learning by the English manner of teach- 
ing, involve another and a very different question ; and we will 
venture to say, that there never was a more complete instance 
in any country of such extravagant and overacted attachment 
to any branch of knowledge as that which obtains in this 
country with regard to classical knowledge. A young English- 
man goes to school at six or seven years old; and he remains 
in a course of education till twenty-three or twenty-four years 
of age. In all that time, his sole and exclusive occupation is 
learning Latin and Greek :* he has scarcely a notion that there 
is any other kind of excellence; and the great system of facts 
with which he is the most perfectly acquainted, are the in- 
trigues of the Heathen gods: with whom Pan slept ?—with 
whom Jupiter?—whom Apollo ravished? ‘These facts the 
English youth get by heart the moment they quit the nursery ; 
and are most sedulously and industriously instructed in them 
till the best and most active part of life is passed away. Now, 
this long career of classical learning, we may, if we please, 
denominate a foundation; but it is a foundation so far above 


* Unless he goes to the University of Cambridge; and then classics 
occupy him entirely for about ten years; and divide him with mathe- 
matics for four or five more. 


168 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ground, that there is absolutely no room to put any thing upon 
it. If you occupy aman with one thing till he is twenty-four 
years of age, you have exhausted all his leisure time: he is 
called into the world, and compelled to act; or is surrounded 
with pleasures, and thinks and reads no more. If you have 
neglected to put other things in him, they will never get in 
afterwards ;—if you have fed him only with words, he will 
remain a narrow and limited being to the end of his existence. 

The bias given to men’s minds is so strong, that it is no 
uncommon thing to meet with Englishmen, whom, but for 
their gray hairs and wrinkles, we might easily mistake for 
schoolboys. Their talk is of Latin verses; and it is quite 
clear, if men’s ages are to be dated from the state of their men- 
tal progress, that such men are eighteen years of age, and not 
aday older. Their minds have been so completely possessed 
by exaggerated notions of classical learning, that they have not 
been able, in the great school of the world, to form any other 
notion of real greatness. Attend, too, to the public feelings— 
look to all the terms of applause. A learned man!—a scholar! 
—a man of erudition! Upon whom are these epithets of ap- 
probation bestowed? Are they given to men acquainted with 
the science of government? thoroughly masters of the geo- 
graphical and commercial relations of Europe? to men who 
know the properties of bodies, and their action upon each 
other? No: this is not learning: it is chemistry, or political 
economy—notlearning. ‘The distinguishing abstract term, the 
epithet of Scholar, is reserved for him who writes on the 
(Eolic reduplication, and is familiar with the Sylburgian 
method of arranging defectives in » and ws. The picture 
which a young Englishman, addicted to the pursuit of know- 
ledge, draws—his beau idéal, of human nature—his top and 
consummation of man’s powers—is a knowledge of the Greek 
language. His object is not to reason, to imagine, or to in- 
vent; but to conjugate, decline, and derive. The situations of 
imaginary glory which he draws for himself, are the detection 
of an anapest in the wrong place, or the restoration of a dative 
ease which Cranzius had passed over, and the never-dying 
Ernesti failed to observe. Ifa young classic of this kind were 
to meet the greatest chemist or the greatest mechanician, or 
the most profound political economist of his time, m company 
with the greatest Greek scholar, would the slightest compari- 
son between them ever come across his mind ?—would he ever 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 169 


dream that such men as Adam Smith and Lavoisier were equal 
in dignity of understanding to, or of the same utility as, Bent- 
ley and Heyné? We are inclined to think, that the feeling 
excited would be a good deal like that which was expressed 
by Dr. George about the praises of the great King of Prussia, 
who entertained considerable doubts whether the king, with 
all his victories, knew how to conjugate a Greek verb in ma. 

Another misfortune of classical learning, as taught in Eng- 
land, is, that scholars have come, in process of time, and from 
the effects of association, to love the instrument better than the 
end;—not the luxury which the difficulty encloses, but the 
difficulty ;—not the filbert, but the shell;—not what may be 
read in Greek, but Greck itself. It is not so much the man 
who has mastered the wisdom of the ancients, that is valued, 
as he who displays his knowledge of the vehicle in which that 
wisdom is conveyed. ‘The glory is to show I am a scholar. 
The good sense and ingenuity I may gain by my acquaintance 
with ancient authors is matter of opinion; but if I bestow an 
immensity of pains upon a point of accent or quantity, this is 
_ something positive; | establish my pretensions to the name of 
scholar, and gain the credit of learning, while I sacrifice all 
its utility. 

Another evil in the present system of classical education is 
the extraordinary perfection which is aimed at in teaching 
those languages; a needless perfection; an accuracy which is 
sought for in nothing else. ‘There are few boys who remain 
to the age of eighteen or nineteen at a public school, without 
making above ten thousand Latin verses;—a greater number 
than is contained in the netd: and after he has made this 
quantity of verses in a dead language, unless the poet should 
happen to be a-very weak man indeed, he never makes another 
as long as he lives. It may be urged, and it is urged, that this 
is of use in teaching the delicacies of the language. No doubt 
it is of use for this purpose, if we put out of view the immense 
time and trouble sacrificed in gaining these little delicacies. 
It would be of use that we should go on till fifty years of age 
making Latin verses, if the price of a whole life were not too 
much to pay for it. We effect our object; but we do it at the 
price of something greater than our object. And whence 
comes it, that the expenditure of life and labour is totally put 
out of the calculation, when Latin and Greek are to be attained ? 
In every other occupation, the question is fairly stated between 

VOL, 1.—12 


170 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the attainment, and the time employed in the pursuit ;—but, 
in classical learning, it seems to be sufficient if the least possi- 
ble good is gained by the greatest possible exertion; if the end 
is any thing, and the means every thing. It is of some im- 
portance to speak and write French; and innumerable delica- 
cies would be gained by writing ten thousand French verses: 
but it makes no part of our education to write French poetry. 
It is of some importance that there should be good botanists; 
but no botanist can repeat, by heart, the names of all the plants 
in the known world; nor is any astronomer acquainted with 
the appellation and magnitude of every star in the map of the 
heavens. The only department of human knowledge in which 
there can be no excess, no arithmetic, no balance of profit and 
loss, is classical learning. 

The prodigious honour in which Latin verses are held at 
public schools, is surely the most absurd of all absurd distine- 
tions. You rest all reputation upon doing that which is a 
natural gift, and which no Jabour can attain. If a lad won’t 
learn the words of a language, his degradation in the school is 
a very natural punishment for his disobedience, or his indo- 
lence; but it would be as reasonable to expect that all boys 
should be witty, or beautiful, as that they should be poets. In 
either case, it would be to make an accidental, unattainable, 
and not a very important gift of nature, the only, or the prin- 
cipal, test of merit. This is the reason why boys, who make 
a very considerable figure at school, so very often make no 
figure in the world;—and why other lads, who are passed 
over without notice, turn out to be valuable important men. 
The test established in the world is widely different from that 
established in a place which is presumed to be a preparation 
for the world; and the head of a public school, who is a per- 
fect miracle to his contemporaries, finds himself shrink into 
absolute insignificance, because he has nothing else to com- 
mand respect or regard, but a talent for fugitive poetry in a 
dead language. 

The present state of classical education cultivates the imagi- 
nation a great deal too much, and_.other habits of mind a great 
deal too little; and trains up many young men in a Style of 
elegant imbecility, utterly unworthy of the talents with which 
nature has endowed them. It may be said, there are profound 
investigations, and subjects quite powerful enough for any 
understanding, to be met with in classical literature. So there 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 171 


are; but no man likes to add the difficulties of a language to 
the difficulties of a subject; and to study metaphysics, morals, 
and politics in Greek, when the Greek alone is study enough 
without them. In all foreign languages, the most popular 
works are works of imagination. Even in the French lan- 
guage, which we know so well, for one serious work which 
has any currency in this country, we have twenty which are 
mere works of imagination. ‘This.is still more true in classi- 
cal literature ; because what their poets and orators have left us, 
is of infinitely greater value than the remains of their philoso- 
phy ; for, as society advances, men think more accurately and 
deeply, and imagine more tamely ; works of reasoning advance, 
and works of fancy decay. So that the matter of fact is, that 
a classical scholar of twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, 
is a man principally conversant with works of imagination. 
His feelings are quick, his fancy lively, and his taste good. 
Talents for speculation and original inquiry he has none; nor 
has he formed the invaluable habit of pushing things up to 
their first principles, or of collecting dry and unamusing facts 
as the materials of reasoning. All the solid and masculine 
parts of his understanding are left wholly without cultivation; 
he hates the pain of thinking, and suspects every man whose 
boldness and originality call upon him to defend his opinions 
and prove his assertions. 

A very curious argument is sometimes employed in justifi- 
eation of the learned minutie to which all young men are 
doomed, whatever be their propensities in future life. What 
are you to do with a young man up to the age of seventeen? 
Just as if there was such a want of difficulties to overcome, 
and of important tastes to inspire, that, from the mere neces- 
sity of doing something, and the impossibility of doing any 
thing else, you were driven to the. expedient of metre and 
poetry;—as if a young man within that period might not 
acquire the modern languages, modern history, experimental 
philosophy, geography, chronology, and a considerable share 
of mathematics;—as if the memory of things was not more 
agreeable and more profitable than the memory of words. 

The great objection is, that we are not making the most of 
human life, when.we constitute such an extensive, and such 
minute classical erudition, an indispensable article in educa- 
tion. Up to a certain point we would educate every young 
man in Latin and Greek; but toa point far short of that to 


172 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


which this species of education is now carried. - Afterwards, 
we would grant to classical erudition as high honours as to 
every other department of knowledge, but not higher. We 
would place it upon a footing with many other objects of 
study ; but allow to it no superiority. Good scholars would 
be as certainly produced by these means as good chemists, 
astronomers, and mathematicians are now produced, without 
any direct provision whatsoever for their production. Why 
are we to trust to the diversity of human tastes, and the varie- 
ties of human ambition in every thing else, and distrust itin 
classics alone? ‘The passion for language is just as strong as 
any other literary passion. ‘There are very good Persian and 
Arabic scholars in this country. Large heaps of trash have 
been dug up from Sanscrit ruins. We have seen, in our own 
times, a clergyman of the University of Oxford complimenting 
their majesties in Coptic and Syrophenician verses; and yet 
we doubt whether there will be a sufficient avidity in literary 
men to get at the beauties of the finest writers which the world 
has yet seen; and though the Bagvat Gheeta has (as can be 
proved) met with human beings to translate, and other human 
beings to read it, we think that, in order to secure an attention 
to Homer and Virgil, we must catch up every man—whether 
he is to be a clergyman or a duke,—begin with him at six 
years of age, and never quit him till he is twenty; making him 
conjugate and decline for life and death; and so teaching him 
to estimate his progress in real wisdom as he can scan the 
verses of the Greek tragedians. 

The English clergy, in whose hands sient eititelymeats: 
bring up the first young men of the country as if they were all - 
to keep grammar schools in little country towns; and a noble- 
man, upon whose knowledge and liberality the honour and 
welfare of his country may depend, is diligently worried, for 
half his life, with the small pedantry of longs and_ shorts. 
There is a timid and absurd apprehension, on the part of 
ecclesiastical tutors, of letting out the minds of youth upon 
difficult and important subjects. They fancy that mental 
exertion must end in religious scepticism ; and, to preserve 
the principles of their pupils, they confine them to the safe 
and elegant imbecility of classical learning. A genuine 
Oxford tutor would shudder .to hear his young men disputing 
upon moral and political truth, forming and pulling down 
theories, and indulging in all the boldness of youthful discus- 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 173 


sion. He would augur nothing from it but impiety to God 
and treason to kings. And yet, who vilifies both more than 
the holy poltroon who carefully averts from them the search- 
ing eye of reason, and who knows no better method of teach- 
ing the highest duties, than by extirpating the finest qualities 
and habits of the mind? If our religion is a fable, the sooner 
it is exploded the better. If our government is bad, it should 
be amended. But we have no doubt of the truth of the one, 
or of the excellence of the other ; and are convinced that both 
will be placed on a firmer basis in proportion as the minds of 
men are more trained to the investigation of truth. At present, 
we act with the minds of our young men as the Dutch did 
with their exuberant spices. An infinite quantity of talent is 
annually destroyed in the universities of England by the 
miserable jealousy and littleness of ecclesiastical instructors. 
It is in vain to say we have produced great men under this 
system. We have produced great men under all systems. 
Every Englishman must pass half his life in learning Latin 
and Greek ; and classical learning is supposed to have pro- 
duced the talents which it has not been able to extinguish. 
It is scarcely possible to prevent great men from rising up 
under any system of education, however bad. ‘Teach men 
demonology or astrology, and you will still have a certain por- 
tion of original genius, in spite of these or any other branches 
of ignorance and folly. 

There is a delusive sort of splendour in a vast body of men 
pursuing one object, and thoroughly obtaining it; and yet, 
though it is very splendid, it is far from being useful. Clas- 
sical literature is the great object at Oxford. Many minds so 
employed have produced many works and much fame in that 
department; but if all liberal arts and sciences useful to human 
life had been taught there,—if some had dedicated themselves 
to chemistry, some to mathematics, some to experimental 
philosophy,—and if every attainment had been honoured in 
the mixed ratio of its difficulty and utility,—the system of such 
an University would have been much more valuable, but the 
splendour of its name something less. 

When an University has been doing useless things for a 
long time, it appears at first degrading to them to be useful. 
A set of lectures upon political economy would be discouraged 
in Oxford,* probably despised, probably not permitted. To 


* They have since been established. 


174 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


discuss the inclosure of commons, and to dwell upon imports 
and exports,—to come so near to common life, would seem to 
be undignified and contemptible. In the same manner, the 
Parr, or the Bentley of his day, would be scandalized in an 
University to be put on a level with the discoverer of a neutral 
salt; and yet, what other measure is there of dignity in intel- 
lectual labour, but usefulness and difficulty ? And what ought 
the term University to mean, but a place where every science 
is taught which is liberal, and at the same time useful to man- 
kind? Nothing would so much tend to bring classical litera- 
ture within proper bounds as a steady and invariable appeal 
to these tests in our appreciation of all human knowledge. 
The puffed up pedant would collapse into his proper size, and 
the maker of verses, and the rememberer of words, would 
soon assume that station which is the lot of those who go up 
unbidden to the upper places of the feast. 

We should be sorry if what we have said should appear 
too contemptuous towards classical learning, which we most 
sincerely hope will always be held in great honour in this 
country, though we certainly do not wish to it that exclusive 
honour which it at present enjoys. A great classical scholar 
is an ornament, and an important acquisition to his country ; 
but, in a place of education, we would give to all knowledge 
an equal chance for distinction ; and would trust to the varie- 
ties of human disposition that every science worth cultivation 
would be cultivated. Looking always to real utility as our 
guide, we should see, with equal pleasure, a studious and 
inquisitive mind arranging the productions of nature, investi- 
gating the qualities of bodies, or mastering the difficulties of 
the learned languages. We should not care whether he were 
chemist, naturalist, or scholar; because we know it to be as 
necessary that matter should be studied, and subdued to the 
use of man, as that taste should be gratified, and imagination 
inflamed. 

In those who were destined for the church, we would un- 
doubtedly encourage classical learning more than in any 
other body of men; but if we had to do with a young man 
going out into public life, we would exhort him to contemn, 
or at least not to affect, the reputation of a great scholar, but 
to educate himself for the offices of civil life. He should 
learn what the constitution of his country really was,—how 
it had grown into its present state,—the perils that had 


TOO MUCH LATIN AND GREEK. 175 


threatened it,—the malignity that had attacked it,—the courage 
that had fought for it, and the wisdom that had made it great. 
We would bring strongly before his mind the characters of 
those Englishmen who have been the steady friends of the 
public happiness; and by their examples, would breathe into 
him a pure public taste which should keep him untainted in 
all the vicissitudes of political fortune. We would teach him 
to burst through the well paid, and the pernicious cant of 
indiscriminate loyalty ; and to know his sovereign only as 
he discharged those duties, and displayed those qualities, for 
which the blood and the treasure of his people are confided to 
his hands. We should deem it of the utmost importance 
that his attention was directed to the true principles of legisla- 
tion,—what effect laws can produce upon opinions, and 
opinions upon laws,—what subjects are fit for legislative inter- 
ference, and when men may be left to the management of their 
own interests. ‘The mischief occasioned by bad laws, and 
the perplexity which arises from numerous laws,—the causes 
of national wealth,—the relations of foreign trade,—the en- 
couragement of manufactures and agriculture,—the fictitious 
wealth occasioned by paper credit,—the laws of population,— 
the management of poverty and mendicity,—the use and abuse 
of monopoly,—the theory of taxation,—the consequences of 
the public debt. ‘These are some of the subjects, and some of 
the branches of civil education to which we would turn the 
minds of future judges, future senators, and future noblemen. 
After the first period of life had been given up to the cultiva- 
tion of the classics, and the reasoning powers were now begin- 
ning to evolve themselves, these are some of the propensities 
in study which we would endeavour to inspire. Great 
knowledge, at such a period of life, we could not convey ; but 
we might fix a decided taste for its acquisition, and a strong 
disposition to respect it in others. The formation of some 
great scholars we should certainly prevent, and hinder many 
from learning what, in a few years, they would necessarily’ 
forget; but this loss would be well repaid,—if we could show 
the future rulers of the country that thought and labour which 
it requires to make a nation happy,—or if we could inspire 
them with that love of public virtue, which, after religion, we 
most solemnly believe to be the brightest ornament of the 
mind of man. 


176 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


FEMALE EDUCATION. (Enrysuncn Review, 1810.) 


Advice to Young Ladies on the Improvement of the Mind. By Tuomas 
Broapuaurstr. 8yo. London, 1808. 


Mr. Broapuorst is a very good sort of a man, who has not 
written a very bad book upon a very important subject. His 
object (a very laudable one) is to recommend a better system 
of female education than at present prevails in this country—to 
turn the attention of women from the trifling pursuits to which 
they are now condemned—and to cultivate faculties which, 
under the actual system of management, might almost as well 
not exist. ‘[o the examination of his ideas upon these points, 
we shall very cheerfully give up a portion of our time and 
attention. 

A great deal has been said of the original difference of capa- 
city between men and women; as if women were more quick, 
and men more judicious—as if women were more remarkable 
for delicacy of association, and men for stronger powers of 
attention. All this, we confess, appears to us very fanciful. 
That there is a difference in the understandings of the men 
and the women we every day meet with, every body, we sup- 
pose, must perceive; but there is none surely: which may not 
be accounted for by the difference of circumstances in which 
they have been placed, without referring to any conjectural 
difference of original conformation of mind. As long as boys 
and girls run about in the dirt, and trundle hoops together, 
they are both precisely alike. If you catch up one half of 
these creatures, and train them to a particular set of actions 
and opinions, and the other half to a perfectly opposite set, of 
course their understandings will differ, as one or the other sort 
of occupations has called this or that talent into action. ‘There 
is surely no occasion to go into any deeper or more abstruse 
reasoning, in order to explain so very simple a phenomenon. 
Taking it, then, for granted, that nature has been as bountiful 
of understanding to one sex as the other, it is incumbent on 
us to consider: what are the principal objections commonly 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 177 


made against the communication of a greater share of know- 
ledge to women than commonly falls to their lot at present: 
for though it may be doubted whether women should learn 
all that men learn, the immense disparity which now exists 
between their knowledge we should hardly think could admit 
of any rational defence. It is not easy to imagine that there 
can be any just cause why a woman of forty should be more 
ignorant than a boy of twelve years of age. If there be any 
good at all in female ignorance, this (to use a very colloquial 
phrase) is surely too much of a good thing. 

Something in this question must depend, no doubt, upon 
the leisure which either sex enjoys for the cultivation of their 
understandings :—and we cannot help thinking, that women 
have fully as much, if not more, idle time upon their hands 
than men. Women are excluded from all the serious busi- 
ness of the world; men are lawyers, physicians, clergymen, 
apothecaries, and justices of the peace—sources of exertion 
which consume a great deal more time than producing and 
suckling children; so that, if the thing is a thing that ought 
to be done—if the attainments of literature are objects really 
worthy the attention of females, they cannot plead the want 
of leisure as an excuse for indolence and neglect. The law- 
yer who passes his day in exasperating the bickerings of 
Roe and Doe, is certainly as much engaged as his lady who 
has the whole of the morning before her to correct the children 
and pay the bills. ‘The apothecary, who rushes from an act 
of phlebotomy in the western parts of the town to insinuate a 
bolus in the east, is surely as completely absorbed as that for- 
tunate female who is darning the garment, or preparing the 
repast of her AXsculapius at home; and, in every degree and 
situation of life, it seems that men must necessarily be ex- 
posed to more serious demands upon their time and attention 
than can possibly be the case with respect to the other sex. 
We are speaking always of the fair demands which ought to 
be made upon the time and attention of women; for, as the 
matter now stands, the time of women is considered as worth 
nothing at all. Daughters are kept to occupations in sewing, 
patching, mantua-making, and mending, by which it is impos- 
sible they can earn tenpence a day. The intellectual improve- 
ment of women is considered to be of such subordinate im- 
portance, that twenty pounds paid for needle-work would give 
to a whole family leisure to acquire a fund of real knowledge. 


178 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


They are kept with nimble fingers and vacant understandings 
till the season for improvement is utterly passed away, and all 
chance of forming more important habits completely lost. We 
do not therefore say that women have more leisure than men, 
if it be necessary that they should lead the life of artisans; 
but we make this assertion only upon the supposition, that it 
is of some importance women should be instructed; and that 
many ordinary occupations, for which a little money will find 
a better substitute, should be sacrificed to this consideration. 
We bar, in this discussion, any objection which proceeds 
from the mere novelty of teaching women more than they are 
already taught. It may be useless that their education should 
be improved, or it may be pernicious; and these are the fair 
grounds on which the question may be argued. But those 
who cannot bring their minds to consider such an unusual 
extension of knowledge, without connecting with it some sen- 
sation of the ludicrous, should remember that, in the progress’ 
from absolute ignorance, there is a period when cultivation of 
mind is new to every rank and description of persons. A 
century ago, who would have believed that country gentlemen 
could be brought to read and spell with the ease and accuracy 
which we now so frequently remark,—or supposed that they 
could be carried up even to the elements of ancient and mo- 
dern history? Nothing is more common, or more stupid, 
than to take the actual for the possible—to believe that all 
which is, is all which can be; first to laugh at every proposed 
deviation from practice as impossible—then, when it is carried 
into effect, to be astonished that it did not take place before. 
It is said, that the effect of knowledge is to make women 
pedantic and affected ; and that nothing can be more offensive 
than to see a woman stepping out of the natural modesty of 
her sex to make an ostentatious display of her literary attain- 
ments. ‘This may be true enough; but the answer is so trite 
and obvious, that we are almost ashamed to make it. All affec- 
tation and display proceed from the supposition of possessing 
something better than the rest of the world possesses. No- 
body is vain of possessing two legs and two arms ;—because 
that is the precise quantity of either sort of limb which every 
body possesses... Who ever heard a lady boast that she under- 
stood French ?—for no other reason, that we know of, but 
because every body in these days does understand French ; 
and though there may be some disgrace in being ignorant of 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 179 


that’ language, there is little or no merit in its acquisition. 
Diffuse knowledge generally among women, and you will at 
once cure the conceit which knowledge occasions while it is 
rare. Vanity and conceit we shall of course witness in men 
and women as long as the world endures: but by multiplying 
the attainments upon which these feelings are founded, you 
increase the difficulty of indulging them, and render them 
much more tolerable, by making them the proofs of a much 
higher merit. When learning ceases to be uncommon among 
women, learned women will cease to be affected. 

A great many of the lesser and more obscure duties of life 
necessarily devolve upon the female sex. ‘The arrangement 
of all household matters, and the care -of children in their 
early infancy, must of course depend upon them. Now, there 
is a very general notion, that the moment you put the educa- 
tion of women upon a better footing than it is at present, at 
that moment there will be an end of all domestic economy; 
and: that, if you once suffer women to eat of the tree of know- 
ledge, the rest of the family will very soon be reduced to the 
same kind of aerial and unsatisfactory diet. ‘These, and all 
such opinions, are referable to one great and common cause of 
error ;—that man does every thing, and that nature does 
nothing; and that every thing we see is referable to positive 
institution rather than to original feeling. Can any thing, for 
example, be more perfectly absurd than to suppose that the 
care and perpetual solicitude which a mother feels for her 
children, depends upon her ignorance of Greek and mathe- 
matics; and that she would desert an infant for a quadratic 
equation? We seem to imagine that we can break in pieces 
the solemn institution of nature, by the little laws of a board- 
ing-school; and that the existence of the human race depends 
upon teaching women a little more or a little less;—that Cim- 
merian ignorance can aid paternal affection, or the circle of 
arts and sciences produce its destruction. In the same man- 
ner, we forget the principles upon which the love of order, 
arrangement, and all the arts of economy depend. They de- 
pend not upon ignorance nor idleness; but upon the poverty, 
confusion, and ruin which would ensue from neglecting them. 
Add to these principles, the love of what is beautiful and 
magnificent, and the vanity of display;—and there can surely 
be no reasonable doubt but that the order and economy of pri- 


180 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


vate life is amply secured from the perilous inroads of know- 
ledge. ; 

We would fain know, too, if knowledge is to produce such 
baneful effects upon the material and the household virtues, 
why this influence has not already been felt? Women are 
much better educated now than they were a century ago; but 
they are by no means less remarkable for attention to the 
arrangements of their household, or less inclined to discharge 
the offices of parental affection. It would be very easy to 
show, that the same objection has been made at all times to 
every improvement in the education of both sexes, and all 
ranks—and been as uniformly and completely refuted by 
experience. A great part of the objections made to the educa- 
tion of women, are rather objections made to human nature 
than to the female sex: for it is surely true, that knowledge, 
where it produces any bad effects at all, does as much mis- 
chief to one sex as to the other,—and gives birth to fully as 
much arrogance, inattention to common affairs, and eccentri- 
city among men, as it does among women. But it by no 
means follows, that you get rid of vanity and self-conceit 
because you get rid of learning. Self-complacency can never 
want an excuse; and the best way to make it more tolerable, 
and more useful, is to give to it as high and as dignified an 
object as possible. But at all events it is unfair to bring for- 
ward against a part of the world an objection which is equally 
powerful against the whole. When foolish women think they 
have any distinction, they are apt to be proud of it; so are 
foolish men. But we appeal to any one who has lived with. 
cultivated persons of either sex, whether he has not witnessed 
as much pedantry, as much wrongheadedness, as much arro- 
gance, and certainly a great deal more rudeness, produced by 
learning in men, than in women; therefore, we should make 
the accusation general—or dismiss it altogether; though, with 
respect to pedantry, the learned are certainly a little unfortu- 
nate, that so very emphatic a word, which is occasionally ap- 
plicable to all men embarked eagerly in any pursuit, should 
be reserved exclusively for them: for, as pedantry is an osten- 
tatious obtrusion of knowledge, in which those who hear us 
cannot sympathize, it is a fault of which soldiers, sailors, 
sportsmen, gamesters, cultivators, and all men engaged in a 
particular occupation, are quite as guilty as scholars; but 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 181 


they have the good fortune to have the vice only of pedantry,: 
—while scholars have both the vice and the name for it too. 

Some persons are apt.to contrast the acquisition of import- 
ant knowledge with what they call simple pleasures; and 
deem it more becoming that a woman should educate flowers, 
make friendships with birds, and pick up plants, than enter 
into more difficult and fatiguing studies. If a woman has no 
taste and genius for higher occupations, let her engage in these 
to be sure rather than remain destitute of any pursuit. But 
why are we necessarily to doom a girl, whatever be her taste 
or her capacity, to one unvaried line of petty and frivolous 
occupation? If she is full of strong sense and elevated curi- 
osity, can there be any reason why she should be diluted and 
enfeebled down to a mere culler of simples, and fancier of 
birds ?——why books of history and reasoning are to be torn out 
of her hand,.and why she is to be sent, like a butterfly, to 
hover over the idle flowers of the field? Such amusements 
are innocent to those whom they can occupy; but they are not 
innocent to those who have too powerful understandings to be 
occupied by them. Light broths and fruits are innocent food 
only to weak or to infant stomachs; but they are poison to 
that organ in its perfect and mature state. But the great charm 
appears to be in the word simplicity—simple pleasures! If 
by a simple pleasure is meant an innocent pleasure, the obser- 
vation is best answered by showing, that the pleasure which 
results from the acquisition of important knowledge is quite as 
innocent as any pleasure whatever: but if by a simple pleasure 
is meant one, the cause of which can be easily analyzed, or 
which does not last long, or which in itself is very faint, then 
simple pleasures’ seem to be very nearly synonymous with 
small pleasures; and if the simplicity were to be a little 
increased, the pleasure would vanish altogether. 

As it is impossible that every man should have industry or 
activity sufficiently to avail himself of the advantages of edu- 
cation, it is natural that men who are ignorant themselves, 
should view, with some degree of jealousy and alarm, any 
proposal for improving the education of women. But such 
men may depend upon it, however the system of female edu- 
cation may be exalted, that there will never be wanting a due 
proportion of failures; and that after parents, guardians, and 
preceptors have done all in their power to make every body 
wise, there will still be a plentiful supply of women who have 


182 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


taken special care to remain otherwise; and they may rest 
assured, if the utter extinction of ignorance and folly is the 
evil they dread, that their interests will always be effectually 
protected, in spite of every exertion to the contrary. 

We must in candour allow that those women who begin 
will have something more to overcome than may probably 
hereafter be the case. We cannot deny the jealousy which 
exists among pompous and foolish men respecting the educa- 
tion of women. ‘There is a class of pedants who would be 
cut short in the estimation of the world a whole cubit if it 
were generally known that a young lady of eighteen could be 
taught to decline the tenses of the middle voice, or acquaint 
herself with the AXolic varieties of that celebrated language. 
Then women have, of course, all ignorant men for enemies to 
their instruction, who being bound (as they think), in point of 
sex, to know more, are not well pleased, in point of fact, to 
know less. But, among men of sense and liberal politeness, 
a woman who has successfully cultivated her mind, without 
diminishing the gentleness and propriety of her manners, is 
always sure to meet with a respect and attention bordering 
upon enthusiasm. 

There is in either sex a strong and permanent disposition 
to appear agreeable to the other: and this is the fair answer to 
those who are fond of supposing, that an higher degree of 
knowledge would make women rather the rivals than the com- 
panions of men. Presupposing such a desire to please, it 
seems much more probable, that a common pursuit should be 
a fresh source of interest than a cause of contention. Indeed, 
to suppose that any mode of education can create a general 
jealousy and rivalry between the sexes, is so very ridiculous, 
that it requires only to be stated in order to be refuted. The 
same desire of pleasing secures all that delicacy and reserve 
which are of such inestimable value to women. Weare quite 
astonished, in hearing men converse on such subjects, to find 
them attributing such beautiful effects to ignorance. It would 
appear, from the tenour of such objections, that ignorance had 
been. the great civilizer of the world. Women are delicate 
and refined only because they are ignorant;—they manage 
their household, only because they are ignorant;—they attend 
to their children, only because they know no better. Now, 
we must really confess, we have all our lives been so ignorant 
as not to know the value of ignorance. We have always 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 183 


attributed the modesty and the refined manners of women, to 
their being well taught in moral and religious duty,—-to the 
hazardous situation in which they are placed,—-to that per- 
petual vigilance which it is their duty to exercise over thought, 
word, and action,—and to that cultivation of the mild virtues, 
which those who cultivate the stern and magnanimous virtues 
expect at their hands. After all, let it be remembered, we are 
not saying there are no objections to the diffusion of know- 
ledge among the female sex. We would not hazard such a 
proposition respecting any thing; but we are saying, that, 
upon the whole, it is the best method of employing time; and 
that there are fewer objections to it than to any other method. 
There are, perhaps, 50,000 females in Great Britain who 
are exempted by circumstances from all necessary labour: but 
every human being must do something with their existence; 
and the pursuit of knowledge is, upon the whole, the most 
innocent, the most dignified, and the most useful method 
of filling up that idleness, of which there is always so 
large a portion in nations far advanced in civilization. Let 
any man reflect, too, upon the solitary situation in which 
women are placed,—the ill treatment to which they are some- 
times exposed, and which they must endure in silence, and 
without the power of complaining,—and he must feel con- 
vineed that the happiness of a woman will be materially in- 
creased in proportion as education has given to her the habit 
and the means of drawing her resources from herself. 

There are a few common phrases in circulation, respecting 
the duties of women, to which we wish to pay some degree of 
attention, because they are rather inimical to those opinions 
which we have advanced on this subject. Indeed, inde- 
pendently of this, there is nothing which requires more vigi- 
lance than the current phrases of the day, of which there are 
always some resorted to in every dispute, and from the sove- 
reign authority of which it is often vain to make any appeal. 
‘The true theatre for a woman is the sick-chamber ;’—* No- 
thing so honourable to a woman as not to be spoken of at all.’ 
These two phrases, the delight of Noodledom, are grown into 
common-places upon the subject; and are not unfrequently 
employed to extinguish that love of knowledge in women, 
which, in our humble opinion, it is of so much importance to 
cherish. Nothing, certainly, is so ornamental and delightful 
in women as the benevolent affections; but time cannot be 


184 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


filled up, and life employed, with high and impassioned vir- 
tues. Some of these feelings are of rare occurrence—all of 
short duration—or nature would sink under them. A scene 
of distress and anguish is an occasion where the finest quali- 
ties of the female mind may be displayed; but it is a monstrous 
exaggeration to tell women that they are born only for scenes 
of distress and anguish. Nurse father, mother, sister, and 
brother, if they want it ;—it would be a violation of the plainest 
duties to neglect them. But, when we are talking of the com- 
mon occupations of life, do not let us mistake the accidents for 
the occupations ,——-when we are arguing how the twenty-three 
hours of the day are to be filled up, it is ; idle to tell us of those 
feelings and agitations above the level of common existence, 
which may employ the remaining hour. Compassion, and 
every other virtue, are the great objects we all ought to have 
in view; but no man (and no woman) ean fill up the twenty- 
four hours by acts of virtue. But one is a lawyer, and the 
other a ploughman, and the third a merchant; and then, acts 
of goodness, and intervals of compassion and fine feeling, are 
scattered up and down the common occupations of life. We 
know women are to be compassionate ; but they cannot be 
compassionate from eight o’clock in the morning till twelve at 
night :—and what are they to do in the interval? This is the 
only question we have been putting all along, and is all that 
can be meant by literary education. 

Then, again, as to the notoriety which is incurred by litera- 
ture.—The eultivation of knowledge is a. very distinct thing 
from its publication; nor-does it follow that a woman is to 
become an author merely because she has talent enough for 
it. We do not wish a lady:to write books,—to defend and 
reply,—to squabble about the tomb of Achilles, or the plain of 
Troy,—any more than we wish her to dance at the opera, to 
play at a public concert, or to put pictures in the exhibition, 
because she has learned music, dancing and drawing. The 
great use of her knowledge will be that it contributes to her 
private happiness. She may make it public: but itis not the 
principal object which the friends of female education have in 
view. Among men, the few who write bear no comparison 
to the many who read. We hear most of the former, indeed, 
because they are, in general, the most ostentatious part of 
literary men; but there are innumerable persons who, without 
ever laying themselves before the public, have made use of 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 185 


literature to add to the strength of their understandings, and to 
improve the happiness of their lives. After all, it may be an 
evil for ladies to be talked of: but we really think those ladies 
who are talked of only as Mrs. Marcet, Mrs. Somerville, and 
Miss Martineau are talked of, may bear their misfortunes with 
a very great degree of Christian patience. 

Their exemption from all the necessary business of life is 
_one of the most powerful motives for the improvement of edu- 
cation in women. Lawyers and physicians have in their pro- 
fessions a constant motive to exertion; if you neglect their 
education, they must in a certain degree educate themselves 
by their commerce with the world: they must learn caution, 
accuracy, and judgment, because they must incur responsi- 
bility. Butif you neglect to educate the mind of a woman, 
by the speculative difficulties which occur in literature, it can 
never be educated at all: if you do not effectually rouse it by 
education, it must remain for ever languid. Uneducated men 
may escape intellectual degradation; uneducated women can- 
not. They have nothing to do; and if they come untaught 
from the schools of education, they will never be instructed in 
the school of events. 

Women have not their livelihood to gain by knowledge; 
and that is one motive for relaxing all those efforts which are 
made in the education of men. ‘They certainly have not; but 
they have happiness to gain, to which knowledge leads as 
probably as it does to profit; and that is a reason against mis- 
taken indulgence. Besides, we conceive the labour and fatigue 
of accomplishments to be quite equal to the labour and fatigue 
of knowledge; and that it takes quite as many years to be 
charming as it does to be learned. 

Another difference of the sexes is, that women are attend- 
ed to, and men attend. All acts of courtesy and politeness 
originate from the one sex, and are received by the other, 
We can see no sort of reason, in this diversity of condition, 
for giving to women a trifling and insignificant education ; but 
we see in it a very powerful reason for strengthening their 
judgment, and inspiring them with the habit of employing 
time usefully. We admit many striking differences in the 
situation of the two sexes, and many striking differences of 
understanding, proceeding from the different circumstances in 
which they are placed: but there is not a single difference of 
this kind which does not afford a new argument for making 

VOL. 1.—13 


186 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the education of women better than it is. ‘They have nothing 
serious to do ;—is that a reason why they should be brought 
up to do nothing but what is trifling? ‘They are exposed to 
greater dangers ;—is that a reason why their faculties are to 
be purposely and industriously weakened? They are to form 
the characters of future men ;—is that a cause why their own 
characters are to be broken and frittered down as they now 
are? In short, there is nota single trait in that diversity of 
circumstances, in which the two sexes are placed, that does 
not decidedly prove the magnitude of the error we commit in 
neglecting (as we do neglect) the education of women. 

If the objections against the better education of women 
could be overruled, one of the great advantages that would 
ensue would be the extinction of innumerable follies. A de- 
cided and prevailing taste for one or another mode of educa- 
tion there must be. A century past, it was for housewifery— 
now it is for accomplishments. ‘The object now is, to make 
women artists,—to give them an excellence in drawing, music, 
painting and dancing,—of which, persons who make these 
pursuits the occupation of their lives, and derive from them 
their subsistence, need not be ashamed. Now, one great evil 
of all this is, that it does not last. If the whole of life were 
an Olympic game,—if we could go on feasting and dancing to 
the end,—this might do; but it is in truth merely a provision 
for the little interval between coming into life, and settling in 
it; while it leaves a long and dreary expanse behind, devoid 
both of dignity and cheerfulness. No mother, no woman 
who has passed over the few first years of life, sings, or 
dances, or draws, or plays upon musical instruments. ‘These 
are merely means for displaying the grace and vivacity of 
youth, which every woman gives up, as she gives up the 
dress and the manners of eighteen: she has no wish to retain 
them; or, if she has, she is driven out of them by diameter 
and derision. ‘The system of female education, as it now 
stands, aims only at embellishing a few years of life, which 
are in themselves so full of grace and happiness, that they 
hardly want it; and then leaves the rest of existence a misera- 
ble pray to idle insignificance. No woman of understanding 
and reflection can possibly conceive she is doing justice to 
her children by such kind of education. The object is, to 
give to children resources that will endure as long as life en- 
dures,—habits that time will ameliorate, not destroy,—occu- 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 187 


pations that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, 
age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and therefore 
death less terrible : and the compensation which is offered for 
the omission of all this, is a short-lived blaze,—a little tempo- 
rary effect, which has no other consequence than to deprive 
the remainder of life of all taste and relish. ‘There may be 
women who have a taste for the fine arts, and who evince a 
decided talent for drawing, or for music. In that case, there 
can be no objection to the cultivation of these arts; but the 
error is, to make such things the grand and universal object,— 
to insist upon it that every woman is to sing, and draw, and 
-dance—with nature, or against nature,—to bind her appren- 
tice to some accomplishment, and if she cannot succeed in oil 
or water-colours, to prefer gilding, varnishing, burnishing, 
box-making, to real solid improvement in taste, knowledge, 
and understanding. 

A great deal is said in favour of the social nature of the fine 
arts. Music gives pleasure to others. Drawing is an art, 
the amusement of which does not centre in him who exer- 
cises it, but is diffused among the rest of the world. This is 
true ; but there is nothing, after all, so social as a cultivated 
mind. We do not mean to speak slightingly of the fine arts, 
or to depreciate the good humour with which they are some- 
times exhibited; but we appeal to any man, whether a little 
spirited and sensible conversation—displaying, modestly, use- 
ful acquirements—and evincing rational curiosity, is not well 
worth the highest exertions of musical or graphical skill. 
A woman of accomplishments may entertain those who have 
the pleasure of knowing her for half an hour with great bril- 
liancy ; but a mind full of ideas, and with that elastic spring 
which the love of knowledge only can convey, is a perpetual 
source of exhilaration and amusement to all that come within 
its reach ;—not collecting its force into single and insulated 
achievements, like the effort made in the fine arts—but diffus- 
ing, equally over the whole of existence, a calm pleasure— 
better loved as it is longer felt—and suitable to every variety 
and every period of life. Therefore, instead of hanging the 
understanding of a woman upon walls, or hearing it vibrate 
upon strings,—instead of seeing it in clouds, or hearing it in 
the wind, we would make it the first spring and ornament of 
society, by enriching it with attainments upon which alone 
such power depends. 


188 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


If the education of women were improved, the education 
of men would be improved also. Let any one consider (in 
order to bring the matter more home by an individual instance) 
of what immense importance to society it is, whether a noble- 
man of first-rate fortune and distinction is well or ill brought 
up ;—what a taste and fashion he may inspire for private and 
for political vice !—and what misery and mischief he may 
produce to the thousand human beings who are dependent on 
him! A country contains no such curse within its bosom. 
Youth, wealth, high rank, and vice, form a combination which 
baffles all remonstrance and beats down all opposition. A 
man of high rank who combines these qualifications for cor- 
ruption, is almost the master of the manners of the age, and 
has the public happiness within his grasp. But the most 
beautiful possession which a country can have is a noble and 
rich man, who loves virtue and knowledge ;—who without 
being feeble or fanatical is pious—and who without being 
factious is firm and independent ;—who, in his political. life, 
is an equitable mediator between king and people; and, in his 
civil life, a firm promoter of all which can shed a lustre upon 
his country, or promote the peace and order of the world. 
But if these objects are of the importance which we attribute 
to them, the education of women must be important, as the 
formation of character for the first seven or eight years of life 
seems to depend almost entirely upon them. It is certainly 
in the power of a sensible and well-educated mother to in- 
spire, within that period, such tastes and propensities as shall 
nearly decide the destiny of the future man; and this is done, 
not only by the intentional exertions of the mother, but by the 
gradual and insensible imitation of the child; for there is 
something extremely contagious in greatness and rectitude of 
thinking, even at that age; and the character of the mother 
with whom he passes his early infancy, is always an event of 
the utmost importance to the child. A merely accomplished 
woman cannot infuse her tastes into the minds of her sons; 
and, if she could, nothing could be more unfortunate than her 
success. Besides, when her accomplishments are given up, 
she has nothing left for it but to amuse herself in the best 
way she can; and, becoming entirely frivolous, either declines 
altogether the fatigue of attending to her children, or, attend- 
ing to them, has neither talents nor knowledge to succeed ; 
and, therefore, here is a plain and fair answer to those who 


FEMALE EDUCATION. . 189 


ask so triumphantly, why should a woman dedicate herself 
to this branch of knowledge? or why should she be attached 
to such science !—Because, by having gained information on 
these points, she may inspire her son with valuable tastes, 
which may abide by him through life, and carry him up to all 
the sublimities of knowledge ;—because she cannot lay the 
foundation of a great characier, if she is absorbed in frivolous 
amusements, nor inspire her child with noble desires, when a 
long course of trifling has destroyed the little talents which 
were left by a bad education. 

It is of great importance to a country, that there should be 
as many understandings as possible actively employed within 
it. Mankind are much happier for the discovery of barome- 
ters, thermometers, steam-engines, and all the innumerable 
inventions in the arts and sciences. We are every day and 
every hour reaping the benefit of such talent and ingenuity. 
The same observation is true of such works as those of Dry- 
den, Pope, Milton and Shakspeare. Mankind are much hap- 
pier that such individuals have lived and written; they add 
every day to the stock of public enjoyment—and perpetually 
gladden and embellish life. Now, the number of those who 
exercise their understandings to any good purpose, is exactly 
in proportion to those who exercise it at all; but, as the matter 
stands at present, half the talent in the universe runs to waste, 
and is totally unprofitable. It would have been almost as well 
for the world, hitherto, that women, instead of possessing the 
capacities they do at present, should have been born wholly 
destitute of wit, genius, and every other attribute of mind, of 
which men make so eminent an use: and the ideas of use and 
possession are so united together, that, because it has been the 
custom in almost all countries to give to women a different and 
a worse education than to men, the notion has obtained that 
they do not possess faculties which they do not cultivate. 
Just as, in breaking up a common, it is sometimes very diffi- 
cult to make the poor believe it will carry corn, merely because 
they have been hitherto accustomed to see it produce nothing 
but weeds and grass—they very naturally mistake present 
condition for general nature. ‘So completely have the talents 
of women been kept down, that there is scarcely a single work, 
either of reason or imagination, written by a woman, which 
is in general circulation either in the English, French, or 


190 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Italian literature ;—scarcely one that has crept even into the 
ranks of our minor poets. 

If the possession of excellent talents is not a conclusive rea- 
son why they should be improved, it at least amounts toa 
very strong presumption; and, if it can be shown that women 
may be trained to reason and imagine as well as men, the 
strongest reasons are certainly necessary to show us why we 
should not avail ourselves of such rich gifts of nature ; and we 
have a right to call for a clear statement of those perils which 
make it necessary that such talents should be totally extin- 
guished, or, at most, very partially drawn out. ‘The burthen 
of proof does not lie with those who say, increase the quantity 
of talent in any country as much as possible—for such a pro- 
position is in conformity with every man’s feelings: but it lies 
with those who say, take care to keep that understanding 
weak and trifling, which nature has made capable of becoming 
strong and powerful. ‘The paradox is with them, not with 
us. In all human reasoning, knowledge must be taken for a 
good, till it can be shown to be an evil. But now, nature 
makes to us rich and magnificent presents; and we say to her 
—You are too luxuriant and munificent—we must keep you 
under, and prune you;—we have talents enough in the other 
half of the creation ;—and, if you will not stupefy and enfeeble 
the mind of women to our hands, we ourselves must expose 
them to a narcotic process, and educate away that fatal redun- 
dance with which the world is afflicted, and the order of sub- 
lunary things deranged. 

One of the greatest pleasures of life is conversation ;—and 
the pleasures of conversation are of course enhanced by every 
increase of knowledge: not that we should meet together to 
talk of alkalis and angles, or to add to our stock of history and 
philology—though a little of these things is no bad ingredient 
in conversation; but let the subject be what it may, there is 
always a prodigious difference between the conversation of 
those who have been well educated and of those who have not 
enjoyed this advantage. Education gives fecundity of thought, 
copiousness of illustration, quickness, vigour, fancy, words, 
images and illustrations ;—it decorates every common thing, 
and gives the power of trifling without being undignified and 
absurd. ‘The subjects themselves may not be wanted, upon 
which the talents of an educated man have been exercised; but 
there is always a demand for those talents which his education 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 191 


has rendered strong and quick. Now, really, nothing can be 
further from our intention than to say any thing rude and un- 
pleasant; but we must be excused for observing, that it is not 
now a very common thing to be interested by the variety and 
extent of female knowledge, but it is a very common thing to 
lament, that the finest faculties in the world have been confined 
to trifles utterly unworthy of their richness and their strength. 

The pursuit of knowledge is the most innocent and inte- 
resting occupation which can be given to the female sex; nor 
can there be a better method of checking a spirit of dissipation 
than by diffusing a taste for literature. The true way to at- 
tack vice, is by setting up something else against it. Give to 
women, in early youth, something to acquire, of sutfcient in- 
terest and importance to command the application of their ma- 
ture faculties, and to excite their perseverance in future life ;— 
teach them that happiness is to be derived from the acquisition 
of knowledge, as well as the gratification of vanity; and you 
will raise up a much more formidable barrier against dissipa- 
tion than an host of invectives and exhortations can supply. 

It sometimes happens that an unfortunate man gets drunk 
with very bad wine,—not to gratify his palate, but to forget his 
cares: he does not set any value on what he receives, but on 
account of what it excludes ;—it keeps out something worse 
than itself. Now, though it were denied that the acquisition 
of serious knowledge is of itself important to a woman, still it 
prevents a taste for silly and pernicious works of imagination; 
it keeps away the horrid trash of novels; and, in lieu of that 
eagerness for emotion and adventure which books of that sort 
inspire, promotes a calm and steady temperament of mind. 

A man who deserves such a piece of good fortune, may 
generally find an excellent companion for all the vicissitudes of 
his life; but it is not so easy to find a companion for his un- 
derstanding, who has similar pursuits with himself, or who 
can comprehend the pleasure he derives from them. We 
really can see no reason why it should not be otherwise; nor 
comprehend how the pleasures of domestic life can be pro- 
moted by diminishing the number of subjects in which persons 
who are to spend their lives together take a common interest, 

One of the most agreeable consequences of knowledyve is 
the respect and importance which it communicates to old age. 
Men rise in character often as they increase in years ;—they 
are venerable from what they have acquired, and pleasing 


192 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


from what they can impart. If they outlive their faculties, the 
mere frame itself is respected for what it once contained; but 
women (such is their unfortunate style of education) hazard 
every thing upon one cast of the die;—when youth is gone, 
all is gone. No human creature gives his admiration for 
nothing: either the eye must be charmed, or the understanding 
gratified. A woman must talk wisely, or look well. Every 
human being must put up with the coldest civility, who has 
neither the charms of youth nor the wisdom of age. Neither 
is there the slightest commiseration for decayed accomplish- 
ments ;—no man mourns over the fragments of a dancer, or 
drops a tear on the relics of musical skill. ‘They are flowers 
destined to perish; but the decay of great talents is always the 
subject of solemn pity; and, even when their last memorial is 
over, their ruins and vestiges are regarded with pious affection. 
There is no connection between the ignorance in which 
women are kept, and the preservation of moral and religious 
principle; and yet certainly there is, in the minds of some 
timid and respectable persons, a vague, indefinite dread of 
knowledge, as if it were capable of producing these effects. © 
It might almost be supposed, from the dread which the propa- 
gation of knowledge has excited, that there was some great 
secret which was to be kept in impenetrable obscurity,—that 
all moral rules were a species of delusion and imposture, the 
detection of which, by the improvement of the understanding, 
would be attended with the most fatal consequences to all, 
and particularly to women. If we could possibly understand 
what these great secrets were, we might perhaps be disposed 
to concur in their preservation; but believing that all the salu- 
tary rules which are imposed on women are the result of true 
wisdom, and productive of the greatest happiness, we cannot 
understand how they are to become less sensible of this truth 
in proportion as their power of discovering truth in general is 
increased, and the habit of viewing questions with accuracy 
and comprehension established by education. ‘There are men, 
indeed, who are always exclaiming against every species of 
power, because it is connected with danger: their dread of 
abuses is so much stronger than their admiration of uses, that 
they would cheerfully give up the use of fire, gunpowder, and 
printing, to be freed from robbers, incendiaries, and libels. 
It is true, that every increase of knowledge may possibly ren- 
der depravity more depraved, as well as it may increase the 


FEMALE EDUCATION. 193 


strength of virtue. It is in itself only power; and its value 
depends on its application. But, trust to the natural love of © 
good where there is no temptation to be bad—it operates no- 
where more forcibly than in education. No man, whether he 
be tutor, guardian, or friend, ever cuntents himself with infus- 
ing the mere ability to acquire; but giving the power, he gives 
with it a taste for the wise and rational exercise of that power ; 
so that an educated person is not only one with stronger and 
betier faculties than others, but with a more useful propensity 
—a disposition better cultivated—and associations of a higher 
and more important class. 

In short, and to recapitulate the main points upon which we 
have insisted :— Why the disproportion in knowledge between 
the two sexes should be so great, when the inequality in natu- 
ral talents is so small; or why the understanding of women 
should be lavished upon trifles, when nature has made it capa- 
ble of higher and better things, we profess ourselves not able 
to understand. ‘The affectation charged upon female know- 
ledge is best cured by making that knowledge more general: 
and the economy devolved upon women is best secured by 
the ruin, disgrace, and inconvenience which proceeds from 
neglecting it. For the care of children, nature has made a 
direct and powerful provision ; and the gentleness and elegance 
of women is the natural consequence of that desire to please, 
which is productive of the greatest part of civilization and 
refinement, and which rests upon a foundation too deep to be 
shaken by any such modifications in education as we have 
proposed. If you educate women to attend to dignified and 
important subjects, you are multiplying, beyond measure, the 
chances of human improvement, by preparing and medicating 
those early impressions, which always come from the mother ; 
and which, in a great majority of instances, are quite decisive 
of character and genius. Nor is it only in the business of 
education that women would influence the destiny of men. 
If women knew more, men must learn more—for ignorance 
would then be shameful—and it would become the fashion to 
be instructed. ‘The instruction of women improves the stock 
of national talents, and employs more minds for the instruc- 
tion and amusement of the world ;— it increases the pleasures 
of society, by multiplying the topics upon which the two 
sexes take a common interest; and makes marriage an inter- 
course of understanding as well as of affection, by giving dig- 


194 _ WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


nity and importance to the female character. ‘The education 
of women favours public morals; it provides for every season 
of life, as well as for the brightest and the best; and leaves a 
woman when she is stricken by the hand of time, not as she 
now is, destitute of every thing, and neglected by all; but 
with the full power and the splendid attractions of knowledge, 
—diffusing the elegant pleasures of polite literature, and re- 
ceiving the just homage of learned and accomplished men. 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 195 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (Enixzuren Review, 1810.) 


Remarks on the System of Education in Public Schools. 8vo. Hatchard. 
London, 1809. 


THERE is a set of well-dressed, prosperous gentlemen who 
assemble daily at Mr. Hatchard’s shop;—clean, civil per- 
sonages, well in with people in power,—delighted with every 
existing institution—and almost with every existing circum- 
stance :—-and, every now and then, one of these personages 
writes a little book ;-—and the rest praise that little book— 
expecting to be praised, in their turn, for their own little 
books :—and of these little books, thus written by these clean, 
civil personages, so expecting to be praised, the pamphlet be- 
fore us appears to be one. 

The subject of it is the advantage of public schools; and 
the author, very creditably to himself, ridicules the absurd 
clamour, first set on foot by Dr. Rennel, of the irreligious ten- 
dency of public schools: he then proceeds to an investigation 
of the effects which public schools may produce upon the 
moral character; and here the subject becomes more difficult, 
and the pamphlet worse. 

In arguing any large or general question, it is of infinite 
importance to attend to the first feelings which the mention of 
the topic has a tendency to excite; and the name of a public 
school brings with it immediately the idea of brilliant classical 
attainments: but, upon the importance of these studies, we 
are not now offering any opinion. ‘The only points for con- 
sideration are, whether boys are put in the way of becoming 
good and wise men by these schools; and whether they 
actually gather there those attainments which it pleases man- 
kind, for the time being, to consider as valuable, and to deco- 
rate by the name of learning. 

By a public school, we mean any endowed place of educa- 
tion, of old standing, to which the sons of gentlemen resort 
in considerable numbers, and where they continue to reside, 
from eight or nine, to eighteen years of age. We do not give 


196 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


this as a definition which would have satisfied Porphyry or 
Duns-Scotus, but as one sufficiently accurate for our purpose. 
The characteristic features of these schools are, their antiquity, 
the numbers, and the ages of the young people who are edu- 
cated at them. We beg leave, however, to premise, that we 
have not the slightest intention of insinuating any thing to the 
disparagement of the present discipline or present rulers of 
these schools, as compared with other times and other men: 
we have no reason whatever to doubt that they are as ably 
governed at this as they have been at any preceding period. 
Whatever objections we may have to these institutions, they 
are to faults, not depending on present administration, but 
upon original construction.* 

Ata public school (for such is the system established by 
immemorial custom), every boy is alternately tyrant and slave. 
The power which the elder part of these communities exer- 
cises over the younger is exceedingly great——very difficult to 
be controlled——and accompanied, not unfrequently, with cru- 
elty and caprice. It is the common law of the place, that the 
young should be implicitly obedient to the elder boys; and 
this obedience resembles more the submission of a slave to his 
master, or of a sailor to his captain, than the common and 
natural deference which would always be shown by one boy 
to another a few years older than himself. Now, this system 
we cannot help considering as an evil,——because it inflicts 
upon boys, for two or three years of their lives, many painful 
hardships, and much unpleasant servitude. These sufferings 
might perhaps be of some use in military schools; but, to 
give to a boy the habit of enduring privations to which he will 
never again be called upon to submit—to inure him to pains 
which he will never again feel——-and to subject him to the 
privation of comforts with which he will always in future 
abound——is surely not a very useful and valuable severity in 
education. It is not the life in miniature which he is to lead 
hereafter—nor does it bear any relation to it:—he will never 


* A public school is thought to be the best cure for the insolence of 
youthful aristocracy. This insolence, however, is not a little in- 
creased by the homage of masters, and would soon meet with its 
natural check in the world. There can be no occasion to bring five 
hundred boys together to teach to a young nobleman that proper de- 
meanour which he would learn so much better from the first English 
gentleman whom he might think proper to insult. 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 197 


again be subjected to so much insolence and caprice; nor 
ever, in all human probability, called upon to make so many 
sacrifices. ‘The servile obedience which it teaches might be 
useful to a menial domestic; or the habits of enterprise which 
it encourages prove of importance to a military partisan; but 
we cannot see what bearing it has upon the calm, regular, 
civil life, which the sons of gentlemen, destined to opulent 
idleness, or to any of the three learned professions, are destined 
to lead. Such asystem makes many boys very miserable ; 
and produces those bad effects upon the temper and disposi- 
tion, which unjust suffering always does produce ;—but what 
good it does we are much at a loss to conceive. Reasonable 
obedience is extremely useful in forming the disposition. 
Submission to tyranny lays the foundation of hatred, suspi- 
cion, cunning, and a variety of odious passions. We are con- 
vinced that those young people will turn out to be the best 
men, who have been guarded most effectually in their child- 
hood, from every species of useless vexation; and expe- 
rienced, in the greatest degree, the blessings of a wise and 
rational indulgence. But even if these effects upon future 
character are not produced, still four or five years in child- 
hood make a very considerable period of human existence ; 
and it is by no means a trifling consideration whether they 
are passed happily or unhappily. ‘The wretchedness of 
school tyranny is trifling enough to aman who only contem- 
plates it in ease of body and tranquillity of mind, through 
the medium of twenty intervening years; but it is quite as 
real, and quite as acute, while it lasts, as any of the sufferings 
of mature life: and the utility of these sufferings, or the price 
paid in compensation for them, should be clearly made out to 
a conscientious parent before he consents to expose his chil- 
dren to them. 

This system also gives to the elder boys an absurd and 
pernicious opinion of their own importance, which is often 
with difficulty effaced by a considerable commerce with the 
world. The head of a public school is generally a very con- 
ceited young man, utterly ignorant of his own dimensions, and 
losing all that habit of conciliation towards others, and that 
anxiety for self-improvement, which result from the natural 
modesty of youth. Nor is this conceit very easily and 
speedily gotten rid of ;—we have seen (if we mistake not) 
public school importance lasting through the half of after life, 


wwine 


198 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


strutting in lawn, swelling in ermine, and displaying itself, 
both ridiculously and offensively, in the haunts and business 
of bearded men. 

There is a manliness in the athletic exercises of public 
schools which is as seductive to the imagination as it is 
utterly unimportant in itself. Of what importance is it in 
after life whether a boy can play well or ill at cricket; or row 
a boat with the skill and precision of a waterman? If our 
young lords and esquires were hereafter to wrestle together in 
public, or the gentlemen of the Bar to exhibit Olympic games 
in Hilary Term, the glory attached to these exercises at public 
schools would be rational and important. But of what use is 
the body of an athlete, when we have good laws over our 
heads,—or when a pistol, a postchaise, or a porter, can be 
hired for a few shillings? A gentleman does novhing but ride 
or walk; and yet such a ridiculous stress is laid upon the man- 
liness of the exercises customary at public schools—exercises 
in which the greatest blockheads commonly excel the most— 
which often render habits of idleness inveterate—and often 
lead to foolish expense and dissipation at a more advanced 
period of life. 

One of the supposed advantages of a publie school is the 
greater knowledge of the world which a boy is considered to 
derive from those situations; but if, by a knowledge of the 
world, is meant a knowledge of the forms and manners which 
are found to be the most pleasing and useful in the world, a 
boy from a public school is almost always extremely deficient 
in these particulars ; and his sister, who has remained at home 
at the apron-strings of her mother, is very much his superior 
in the science of manners. It is probably true, that a boy at 
a public school has made more observations on human cha- 
racter, because he has had more opportunities of observing 
than have been enjoyed by young persons educated either at 
home or at private schools: but this little advance gained at a 
public school is so soon overtaken at college or in the world, 
that, to have made it, is of the least possible consequence, and 
utterly undeserving of any risk incurred in the acquisition. 
Is it any injury to a man of thirty or thirty-five years of aze— 
to a learned serjeant or venerable dean—that at eighteen they 
did not know so much of the world as some other boys of the 
same standing? ‘They have probably escaped the arrogant 
character so often attendant upon this trifling superiority ; nor 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 199 


is there much chance that they have ever fallen into the com- — 
mon and youthful error of mistaking a premature initiation 
into vice for a knowledge of the ways of mankind; and, in 
addition to these salutary exemptions, a winter in London 
brings it all to a level; and offers to every novice the advan- 
tages which are supposed to be derived from this precocity of 
confidence and polish. 

According to the general prejudice in favour of public schools, 
it would be thought quite as absurd and superfluous to enume- 
rate the illustrious characters who have been bred at our three 
great seminaries of this description, as it would be to descant 
upon the illustrious characters who have passed in and out of 
London over our three great bridges. Almost every conspicu- 
ous person is supposed to have been educated at public schools; 
and there are scarcely any means (as it is imagined) of making 
an actual comparison; and yet, great as the rage is, and long 
has been, for public schools, it is very remarkable, that the 
most eminent men in every art and science have not been 
educated in public schools; and this is true, even if we include, 
in the term of public schools, not only Eton, Winchester, and 
Westminster, but the Charter-House, St. Paul’s School, Mer- 
chant Taylors, Rugby, and every school in England, at all 
conducted upon the plan of the three first. ‘The great schools 
of Scotland we do not call public schools; because, in these, 
the mixture of domestic life gives to them a widely different 
character. Spenser, Pope, Shakspeare, Butler, Rochester, 
Spratt, Parnell, Garth, Congreve, Gay, Swift, Thomson, Shen- 
stone, Akenside, Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Beaumont and 
Fletcher, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sydney, Savage, Arbuthnot, 
and Burns, among the poets, were not educated in the system 
of English schools. Sir Isaac Newton, Maclaurin, Wallis, 
Hamstead, Saunderson, Simpson, and Napier, among men of 
science, were not educated in public schools. The three best 
historians that the English language has produced, Clarendon, 
Hume, and Robertson, were not educated at public shools. 
Public schools have done little in England for the fine arts— 
as in the examples of Inigo Jones, Vanbrugh, Reynolds, Gains- 
borough, Garrick, &c. The great medical writers and disco- 
verers in Great Britain, Harvey, Cheselden, Hunter, Jenner, 
Meade, Brown, and Cullen, were not educated at public schools. 
Of the great writers on morals and metaphysics, it was not the 
system of public schools which produced Bacon, Shaftesbury, 


200 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITII. 


Hobbes, Berkeley, Butler, Hume, Hartley, or Dugald Stewart. 
The greatest discoverers in chemistry have not been brought 
up at public schools ;—we mean Dr. Priestley, Dr. Black, and 
Mr. Davy. The only Englishmen who have evinced a re- 
markable genius, in modern times, for the art of war,—the 
Duke of Marlborough, Lord Peterborough, General Wolfe, 
and Lord Clive, were all trained in private schools. So were 
Lord Coke, Sir Matthew Hale, and Lord Chancellor Hard- 
wicke, and Chief Justice Holt, among the lawyers. So also, 
among statesmen, were Lord Burleigh, Walsingham, the Earl 
of Strafford, Thurloe, Cromwell, Hampden, Lord Clarendon, 
Sir Walter Raleigh, Sydney, Russel, Sir W. Temple, Lord 
Somers, Burke, Sheridan, Pitt. In addition to this list, we 
must not forget the names of such eminent scholars and men 
of letters, as Cudworth, Chillingworth, Tillotson, Archbishop 
King, Selden, Conyers Middleton, Bentley, Sir Thomas More, 
Cardinal Wolsey, Bishops Sherlock and Wilkins, Jeremy ‘Tay- 
lor, Isaac Hooker, Bishops Usher, Stillingfleet, and Spelman, 
Dr. Samuel Clarke, Bishop Hoadley, and Dr. Lardner. Nor 
must it be forgotten, in this examination, that none of the con- 
spicuous writers upon political economy which this country 
has as yet produced, have been brought up in public schools. 
If it be urged that public schools have only assumed their pre- 
sent character within this last century, or half century, and 
that what are now called public schools partook, before this 
period, of the nature of private schools, there must then be 
added to our lists the names of Milton, Dryden, Addison, &c. 
&c.: and it will follow, that the English have done almost all 
that they have done in the arts and sciences, without the aid 
of that system of education to which they are now so much 
attached. Ample as this catalogue of celebrated names already 
is, it would be easy to double it; yet, as it stands, it is obvi- 
ously sufficient to. show that great eminence may be attained 
in any line of fame without the aid of public schools. Some 
more striking inferences might perhaps be drawn from it; but 
we content ourselves with the simple fact. 

The most important peculiarity in the constitution of a pub- 
lic school is its numbers, which are so great, that a close in- 
spection of the master into the studies and conduct of each 
individual is quite impossible. We must be allowed to doubt, 
whether such an arrangement is favourable either to literature 
or morals, 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 201 


Upon this system, a boy is left almost entirely to himself, 
to impress upon his own mind, as well as he can, the distant 
advantages of knowledge, and to withstand, from his own 
innate resolution, the examples and the seductions of idleness. 
A firm character survives this brave neglect; and very exalted 
talents may sometimes remedy it by subsequent diligence: 
but schools are not made for a few youths of pre-eminent 
talents, and strong characters; such prizes can, of course, be 
drawn but by a very few parents. ‘The best school is that 
which is best accommodated to the greatest variety of charac- 
ters, and which embraces the greatest number of cases. It 
cannot be the main object of education to render the splendid 
more splendid, and to lavish care upon those who would 
almost thrive without any care at all. <A public school does 
this effectually; but it commonly leaves the idle almost as 
idle, and the dull almost as dull, as it found them. It disdains 
the tedious cultivation of those middling talents of which only 
the great mass of human beings are possessed. When a 
strong desire of improvement exists, it is encouraged, but no 
pains are taken to inspire it. A boy is cast in among five or 
six hundred other boys, and is left to form his own character 5 
—if his love of knowledge survives this severe trial, it, in 
general, carries him very far: and, upon the same principle, 
a savage, who grows up to manhood, is, in general, well 
made, and free from all bodily defects; not because the severi- 
ties of such a state are favourable to animal life, but because 
they are so much the reverse, that none but the strongest can 
‘survive them. A few boys are incorrigibly idle, and a few 
incorrigibly eager for knowledge ; but the great mass are ina 
state of doubt and fluctuation; and they come to school for 
the express purpose, not of being left to themselves—for that 
could be done any where—but that their wavering tastes and 
propensities should be decided by the intervention of a master. 
In a forest, or public school for oaks and elms, the trees are 
left to themselves; the strong plants live, and the weak ones 
die: the towering oak that remains is admired; the saplings 
that perish around it are cast into the flames and forgotten. 
But it is not surely to the vegetable struggle of a forest, or the 
hasty glance of a forester, that a botanist would commit a 
favourite plant; he would naturally seek for it a situation of 
less hazard, and a cultivator whose limited occupations would 
enable him to give to it a reasonable share of his time and 

VOL. 1.—14 


202 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


attention. The very meaning of education seems to us to be, 
that the old should teach the young, and the wise direct the 
weak ; that a man who professes to instruct, should get among 
his pupils, study their characters, gain their affections, and 
form their inclinations and aversions. In a public school, the 
numbers render this impossible; it is impossible that sufficient 
time should be found for this useful and affectionate inter- 
ference. Boys, therefore, are left to their own crude concep- 
tions and ill-formed propensities; and this neglect is called a 
spirited and manly education. 

In by far the greatest number of cases, we cannot think 
public schools favourable to the cultivation of knowledge; and 
we have equally strong doubts if they be so to the cultivation 
of morals,—though we admit, that, upon this point, the most 
striking arguments have been produced i in their favour. 

It is contended by the friends to public schools, that every 
person, before he comes to man’s estate, must run through a 
certain career of dissipation; and that if that career is, by the 
means of a private education, deferred to a more advanced 
period of life, it will only be begun with greater eagerness, 
and pursued into more blameable excess. ‘The time must, of 
course, come when every man must be his own master; 
when his conduct can be no longer regulated by the watchful 
superintendence of another, but must be guided by his own 
discretion. Emancipation must come at last; and we admit, 
that the object to be aimed at is, that such emancipation should 
be gradual, and not premature. Upon this very invidious 
point of the discussion, we rather wish to avoid offering any 
opinion. The manners of great schools vary considerably 
from time to time; and what may have been true many years 
ago, is very possibly not true at the present period. In this 
instance, every parent must be governed by his own observa- 
tions and means of information. If the license which pre- 
vails at public schools is only a fair increase of liberty, pro- 
portionate to advancing age, and calculated to prevent the bad 
effects of a sudden transition from tutelary thraldom to perfect 
self-government, it is certainly a good rather than anevil. If, 
on the contrary, there exists in these places of education a 
system of premature debauchery, and if they only prevent men 
from being corrupted by the world, by corrupting them before 
their entry into the world, they can then only be looked upon 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 203 


as evils of the greatest magnitude, however they may be sanc- 
tioned by opinion, or rendered familiar to us by habit. 

The vital and essential part of a school is the master; but, 
at a public school, no boy, or, at the best, only a very few, 
can see enough of him to derive any considerable benefit from 
his character, manners, and information. It is certainly of 
eminent use, particularly to a young man of rank, that he 
should have lived among boys; but it is only so when they 
are all moderately watched by some superior understanding. 
The morality of boys is generally very imperfect; their no- 
tions of honour extremely mistaken; and their objects of ambi- 
tion frequently very absurd. ‘Che probability then is, that the 
kind of discipline they exercise over each other will produce 
(when left to itself) a great deal of mischief; and yet this is 
the discipline to which every child at a public school is not 
only necessarily exposed, but principally confined. Our ob- 
jection (we again repeat) is not to the interference of boys in 
the formation of the character of boys; their character, we are 
persuaded, will be very imperfectly formed without their 
assistance; but our objection is to that almost exclusive 
agency which they exercise in public schools. 

After having said so much in opposition to the general pre- 
judice in favour of public schools, we may be expected to 
state what species of school we think. preferable to them; for 
if public schools, with all their disadvantages, are the best that 
can actually be found, or easily attained, the objections to them 
are certainly made to very little purpose.. 

We have no hesitation, however, in saying, that that educa- 
tions seems to us to be the best which mingles a domestic 
with a school life; and which gives to a youth the advantage 
which is to be derived from the learning of a master, and the 
emulation which results from the society of other boys, toge- 
ther with the affectionate vigilance which he must experience 
in the house of his parents. But where this species of educa- 
tion, from peculiarity of circumstances or situation, is not 
attainable, we are disposed to think a society of twenty or 
thirty boys, under the guidance of a learned man, and, above 
all, of a man of good sense, to be a seminary the best adapted 
for the education of youth. The numbers are sufficient to 
excite a considerable degree of emulation, to give to a boy 
some insight into the diversities of the human character, and 
to subject him to the observation and control of his superiors. 


204 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


It by no means follows, that a judicious man should always 
interfere with his authority and advice because he has always 
the means; he may connive at many things which he cannot 
approve, and suffer some little failures to proceed to a certain 
extent, which, if indulged in wider limits, would be attended 
with irretrievable mischief: he will be aware, that his object 
is to fit his pupil for the world; that constant control is a very 
bad preparation for complete emancipation from all control ; 
that it is not bad policy to expose a young man, under the 
eye of superior wisdom, to some of those dangers which will 
assail him hereafter in greater number, and in greater strength 
—when he has only his own resources to depend upon. <A 
private education, conducted upon these principles, is not 
calculated to gratify quickly the vanity of a parent who is 
blest with a child of strong character and pre-eminent abili- 
ties: to be the first scholar of an obscure master, at an ob- 
scure place, is no very splendid distinction ; nor does it afford 
that opportunity, of which so many parents are desirous, of 
forming great connections for their children: but if the object 
be, to induce the young to love knowledge and virtue, we are 
inclined to suspect, that, for the average of human talents and 
characters, these are the situations in which such tastes. will 
be the most effectually formed. 


TOLERATION, 205 


TOLERATION. (Enrinsuren Reyrew, 1811.) 


Hints on Toleration, in Five Essays, §c. suggested for the Consideration 
of Lord Viscount Sidmouth, and the Dissenters. By Philagatharches, 
London. 1810. 


ir a prudent man sees a child playing with a porcelain cup of 
great value, he takes the vessel out of his hand, pats him on 
the head, tells him his mamma will be sorry if it is broken, 
and gently cheats him into the use of some less precious sub- 
stitute. Why will Lord Sidmouth meddle with the Toleration 
Act, when there are so many other subjects in which his abili- 
ties might be so eminently useful—when enclosure bills are 
drawn up with such scandalous negligence—turnpike roads so 
shamefully neglected—and public conveyances illegitimately 
loaded in the face of day, and in defiance of the wisest legisla- 
tive provisions? We confess our trepidation at seeing the 
Toleration Act in the hands of Lord Sidmouth ; and should be 
very glad if it were fairly back in the statute book, and the 
sedulity of this well-meaning nobleman diverted into another 
channel. 

The alarm and suspicion of the Dissenters upon these mea- 
sures are wise and rational. ‘They are right to consider the 
Toleration Act as their palladium; and they may be certain 
that in this country there is always a strong party ready, not 
only to prevent the further extension of tolerant principles, 
but to abridge (if they dared) their present operation within 
the narrowest limits. Whoever makes this attempt, will be 
sure to make it under professions of the most earnest regard 
for mildness and toleration, and with the strongest declarations 
of respect for King William, the Revolution, and the princi- 
ples which seated the House of Brunswick on the throne of 
these realms ;—and then will follow the clauses for whipping 
Dissenters, imprisoning preachers, and subjecting them to 
rigid qualifications, &c. &c. &c. The infringement on the 
militia acts is a mere pretence. ‘The real object is to diminish 
the number of Dissenters from the Church of England, by 


206 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


abridging the liberties and privileges they now possess. This 
is the project which we shall examine, for we sincerely be- 
lieve it to be the project in agitation. ‘The mode in which it 
is proposed to attack the Dissenters is, first, by exacting _ 
greater qualifications in their teachers ; next, by preventing the 
interchange or itinerancy of preachers, and fixing them to one 
spot. 

It can never, we presume, be intended to subject dissenting 
ministers to any kind of theological examination. A teacher 
examined in doctrinal opinions, by another teacher who differs 
from him, is so very absurd a project, that we entirely aequit 
Lord Sidmouth of any intention of this sort. We rather pre- 
sume his lordship to mean, that a man who professes to teach 
his fellow creatures, should at least have made some progress 
in human learning;—that he should not be wholly without 
education ;—that he should be able at least to read and write. 
If the test is of this very ordinary nature, it can scarcely ex- 
clude many teachers of religion; and it was hardly worth 
while, for the very insignificant diminution of numbers which 
this must occasion to the dissenting clergy, to have raised all 
the alarm which this attack upon the Toleration Act has occa- 
sioned. 

But, without any reference to the magnitude of the effects, 
is the principle right? or, What is the meaning of religious 
toleration? ‘That a manshould hold, without pain or penalty, 
any religious opinions,—and choose for his instruction, in the 
business of salvation, any guide whom he pleases ;—ceare being 
taken that the teacher and the doctrine injure neither the policy 
nor the morals of the country. We maintain that perfect re- 
ligious toleration applies as much to the teacher as the thing 
taught; and that it is quite as intolerant to make a man hear 
Thomas, who wants to hear John, as it would be to make a 
man profess Arminian, who wished to profess Calvinistical 
principles. What right has any government to dictate to any 
man who shall guide him to heaven, any more than it has to 
persecute the religious tenets by which he hopes to arrive 
there? You believe that the heretic professes doctrines utterly 
incompatible with the true spirit of the gospel ;—first you burnt 
him for this,—then you whipt him,—then you fined him,— 
then you put him in prison. All this did no good ;—and, for 
these hundred years last past, you have let him alone. The 
heresy is now firmly protected by law ;—and you know i 


TOLERATION. 207 


must be preached:—What matters it then, who preaches it? 
If the evil must be communicated, the organ and instrument ° 
through which it is communicated cannot be of much conse- 
quence. It is true, this kind of persecution against persons, 
has not been quite so much tried as the other against doctrines ; 
but the folly and inexpediency of it rest precisely upon the 
same grounds. 

Would it not be asingular thing if the friends of the Church 
of England were to make the most strenuous efforts to render 
their enemies eloquent and learned?—and to found places of 
education for Dissenters? But, if their learning would not be 
a good, why is their ignorance an evil ?—unless it be necessa- 
rily supposed, that all increase of learning must bring men over 
to the Church of England ; in which supposition, the Scottish 
and Catholic universities, and the college at Hackney, would 
hardly acquiesce. Ignorance surely matures and quickens the 
progress, by insuring the dissolution of absurdity. Rational 
and learned Dissenters remain :—religious mobs, under some 
ignorant fanatic of the day, become foolish overmuch,—dis- 
solve, and return to the Church. The Unitarian, who reads 
and writes, gets some sort of discipline, and returns no more. 

What connection is there (as Lord Sidmouth’s plan as- 
sumes) between the zeal and piety required for religious in- 
struction and the common attainments of literature? But, if 
knowledge and education are required for religious instruction, 
why be content with the common elements of learning? why 
not require higher attainments in dissenting candidates for 
orders; and examine them in the languages in which the books 
of their religion are conveyed ? 

A dissenting minister, of vulgar aspect and homely appear- 
ance, declares that he entered into that holy office because he 
felt a call;—and a clergyman of the Establishment smiles at 
him for the declaration. But it should be remembered, that 
no minister of the Establishment is admitted into orders, before 
he has been expressly interrogated by the bishop whether he 
feels himself called to that sacred office. ‘The doctrine of 
calling, or inward feeling, is quite orthodox in the English 
Church ;—and, in arguing this subject in Parliament, it will 
hardly be contended, that the Episcopalian only is the judge 
when that call is genuine, and when it is only imaginary. 

The attempt at making the dissenting clergy stationary, 
and persecuting their circulation, appears to us quite as unjust 


208 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


and inexpedient as the other measure of qualifications. It 
appears a gross inconsistency to say—‘I admit that what you 
are doing is legal,—but you must not do it thoroughly and 
effectually. I allow you to propagate your heresy,—but I 
object to all means of propagating it which appear to be useful 
and effective.’ If there are any other grounds upon which 
the circulation of the dissenting clergy is objected to, let these 
ground she stated and examined; but to object to their circu- 
lation merely because it is the best method of effecting the 
object which you allow them to effect, does appear to be 
rather unnatural and inconsistent. 

It is presumed, in this argument, that the only reason urged 
for the prevention of itinerant preachers is the increase of 
heresy; for, if heresy is not increased by it, it must be imma- 
terial to the feelings of Lord Sidmouth, and of the imperial 
Parliament, whether Mr. Shufflebottom preaches at Bungay, 
and Mr. Ringletub at Ipswich; or whether an artful vicissitude 
is adopted, and the order of insane predication reversed. 

But, supposing all this new interference to be just, what 
good will it do? You find a dissenting preacher, whom you 
have prohibited, still continuing to preach,—or preaching at 
Ealing when he ought to preach at Acton ;—his number is 
taken, and the next morning he is summoned. Is it believed 
that this description of persons can be put down by fine and 
imprisonment? His fine is paid for him; and he returns 
from imprisonment ten times as much sought after and as 
popular as he was before. ‘This is a receipt for making a 
stupid preacher popular, and a popular preacher more popular, 
but can have no possible tendency to prevent the mischief 
against which it is levelled. It is precisely the old history of 
persecution against opinions turned into a persecution against 
persons. ‘I'he prisons will be filled,—the enemies of the 
Church made enemies of the state also,—and the Methodists 
rendered ten times more actively mad than they are at present. 
This is the direct and obvious tendency of Lord Sidmouth’s 
plan. 

Nothing dies so hard and rallies so often as intolerance. 
The fires are put out, and no living nostril has scented the 
nidor of a human creature roasted for faith ;—then, after this, 
the prison-doors were got open, and the chains knocked off ;— 
and now Lord Sidmouth only begs that men who disagree 
with him in religious opinions may be deprived of all civil 


TOLERATION. 209 


offices, and not be allowed to hear the preachers they like 
best. Chains and whips he would not hear of; but these 
mild gratifications of his bill every orthodox mind is surely 
entitled to. ‘The hardship would indeed be great if a church- 
man were deprived of the amusement of putting a dissenting 
parson in prison. We are convinced Lord Sidmouth is a very 
amiable and well-intentioned man: his error is not the error 
of his heart, but of his time, above which few men ever rise. 
It is the error of some four or five hundred thousand English 
gentlemen, of decent education and worthy characters, who 
conscientiously believe that they are punishing, and continuing 
incapacities, for the good of the state; while they are, in 
fact (though without knowing it), only gratifying that inso- 
lence, hatred, and revenge, which all human beings are unfor- 
tunately so ready to feel against those who will not conform 
to their own sentiments. 

But, instead of making the dissenting churches less 
popular, why not make the English church more popular, 
and raise the English clergy to the privileges of the Dis- 
senters? In any parish of England, any layman, or clergy- 
man, by paying sixpence, can open a place of worship,— 
provided it be not the worship of the Church of England. 
If he wishes to attack the doctrines of the bishop or the in- 
cumbent, he is not compelled to ask the consent of any 
person; but if, by any evil chance, he should be persuaded 
of the truth of those doctrines, and build a chapel or mount a 
pulpit to support them, he is instantly put in the spiritual 
court; for the regular incumbent, who has a legal monopoly 
of this doctrine, does not choose to suffer any interloper ; 
and without his consent, it is illegal to preach the doctrines 
of the church within his precincts.* Now this appears to us 


* Tt might be supposed that the general interests of the Church 
would outweigh the particular interests of the rector; and that any 
clergyman would be glad to see places of worship opened within his 
parish for the doctrines of the Established Church. The fact, how- 
ever, is directly the reverse. It is scarcely possible to obtain permis- 
sion from the established clergyman of the parish to open a chapel 
there; and, when it is granted, it is granted upon very hard and in- 
terested conditions. The parishes of St. George—of St. James—of 
Mary-le-bone—and of St. Anne’s, in London—may, in the parish 
churches, chapels of ease, and mercenary chapels, contain, perhaps, 
one-hundredth part of their Episcopalian inhabitants. Let the rectors, 
lay and clerical, meet together, and give notice that any clergyman of 
the Church of England, approved by the bishop, may preach there; 


210 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


a great and manifest absurdity, and a disadvantage against the 
Established Church which very few establishments could 
bear. ‘The persons who preach and who build chapels, or for 
whom chapels are built, among the Dissenters, are active 
clever persons, with considerable talents for that kind of 
employment. ‘These talents have, with them, their free and 
unbounded scope; while in the English Church they are 
wholly extinguished amd destroyed. ‘Till this evil is corrected, 
the Church contends with fearful odds against its opponents. 
On the one side, any man who can command the attention of 
a congregation—to whom nature has given the animal and 
intellectual qualifications of a preacher—such a man is the 
member of every corporation ;—all impediments are removed : 
—there is not a single position in Great Britain which he may 
not take, provided he is hostile to the Established Church. 
In the other case, if the English Church were to breed up a 
Massillon or a Bourdaloue, he finds every place occupied ; 
and every where a regular and respectable clergyman ready 
to put him in the spiritual court, if he attracts, within his 
precincts, any attention to the doctrines and worship of the 
Established Church. | . 

The necessity of having the bishop’s consent would pre- 
vent any improper person from preaching. ‘That consent 
should be withheld, not capriciously, but for good and lawful 
cause to be assigned. 

The profits of an incumbent proceed from fixed or volun- 
tary contributions. The fixed could not be affected ; and the 
voluntary ought to vary according to the exertions of the in- 
cumbent and the good will of the parishioners; but, if this is 


and we will venture to say, that places of worship capable of contain- 
ing 20,000 persons would be built within ten years. But, in these 
cases, the interest of the rector and of the Establishment is not the 
same. A chapel belonging to the Swedenborgians, or Methodists of 
the New Jerusalem, was offered, two or three years since, in London, 
toa clergyman of the Establishment. The proprietor was tired of 
his irrational tenants, and wished for better doctrine. ‘The rector 
(since a dignitary), with every possible compliment to the fitness of 
the person in question, positively refused the application; and the 
church remains in the hands of Methodists. No particular blame is 
intended, by this anecdote, against the individual rector. He acted as 
many have done before and since; but the incumbent clergyman 
ought to possess no such power. It is his interest, but not the interest 
of the Establishment. 


TOLERATION. 211 


wrong, pecuniary compensation might be made (at the discre- 
tion of the ordinary) from the supernumerary to the regular 
clergyman.* 

Such a plan, it is true, would make the Church of England 
more popular in its nature; and it ought to be made more 
popular, or it will not endure for another half century. ‘There 
are two methods; the Church must be made more popular or 
the Dissenters less so. ‘To effect the latter object by force 
and restriction is unjust and impossible. The only remedy 
seems to be, to grant to. the Church the same privileges which 
are enjoyed by the Dissenters, and to excite, in one party, 
that competition of talent which is of such palpable advan- 
tage to the other. 

A remedy suggested by some well-wishers to the Church, 
is the appointment of men to benefices who have talents for 
advancing the interests of religion; but, till each particular 
patron can be persuaded to care more for the general good of 
the Church than for the particular good of the person whom 
he patronizes, little expectation of improvement can be derived 
from this quarter. 

The competition between the Established clergy, to which 
this method would give birth, would throw the incumbent in 
the back-ground only when he was unfit to stand forward,— 
immoral, negligent, or stupid. His income would still remain; 
and, if his influence were superseded by a man of better qua- 
lities and attainments, the general good of the Establishment 
would be consulted by the change. ‘The beneficed clergyman 
would always come to the contest with great advantages; 
and his deficiencies must be very great indeed, if he lost the 
esteem of his parishioners. But the contest would rarely or 
ever take place, where the friends of the Establishment were 
not numerous enough for all. At present, the selfish incum- 
bent, who cannot accommodate the fiftieth part of his parishion- 
ers, is determined that no one else shall do it for him. It is 
in such situations that the benefit to the Establishment would 
be greatest, and the injury to the appointed minister none 
at all. 

We beg of men of sense to reflect, that the question is not 
whether they wish the English Church to stand as it now is, 
but whether the English Church can stand as it now is; and 


* All this has been since placed on a better footing. 


212 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


whether the moderate activity here recommended is not the 
minimum of exertion necessary for its preservation. At the 
same time, we hope nobody will rate our sagacity so very low 
as to imagine we have much hope that any measure of the 
kind will ever be adopted. All establishments die of dignity. 
They are too proud to think themselves ill, and to take a little 
physic. | 

To show that we have not misstated the obstinacy or the 
conscience of sectaries, and the spirit with which they will 
meet the regulations of Lord Sidmouth, we will lay before our 
readers the sentiments of Philagatharches—a stern subacid 
Dissenter. 


‘I shall not here enter into a comprehensive discussion of the nature 
of a call to the ministerial office; but deduce my proposition from a 
sentiment admitted equally by conformists and non-conformists. It 
is essential to the nature of a call to preach “that a man be moved by 
the Holy Ghost to enter upon the work of the ministry:” and, if the 
Spirit of God operate powerfully upon his heart to constrain him to 
appear as a public teacher of religion, who shall command him to desist? 
We have seen that the sanction of the magistrate can give no autho- 
rity to preach the gospel; and if he were to forbid our exertions, we 
must persist in the work: we dare not relinquish a task that God has 
required us to perform; we cannot keep our consciences in peace, if 
our lips are closed in silence, while the Holy Ghost is moving our 
hearts to proclaim the tidings of salvation: “ Yea, woe is unto me,” 
saith St. Paul, “if I preach not the gospel.” Thus, when the Jewish 
priests had taken Peter and John into custody, and after examining 
them concerning their doctrine, “commanded them not to speak at 
all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus,” these apostolical champions 
of the cross undauntedly replied, “ Whether it be right in the sight of 
God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we can- 
not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Thus, 
also, in our day, when the Holy Ghost excites a man to preach the 
gospel to his fellow sinners, his message is sanctioned by an autho- 
rity which is “far above all principality and power;” and, conse- 
quently, neither needs the approbation of subordinate rulers, nor ad- 
inits of revocation by their countermanding edicts. 

‘3dly. He who receives a license should not expect to derive from 
it a testimony of qualification to preach. 

‘It would be grossly absurd to seek a testimony of this description 
from any single individual, even though he were an experienced 
veteran in the service of Christ; for all are fallible; and, under some 
unfavourable prepossession, even the wisest or the best of men might 
give an erroneous decision upon the case. But this observation will 
gain additional force when we suppose the power of judging trans- 
ferred to the person of the magistrate. We cannot presume that a 
civil ruler understands as much of theology as a minister of the gospel. 


TOLERATION. 213 


His necessary duties prevent him from critically investigating ques- 
tions upon divinity; and confine his attention to that particular depart- 
ment which society has deputed him to occupy; and hence to expect 
at his hands a testimony of qualification to preach would be almost 
as ludicrous as to require an obscure country curate to fill the office 
of Lord Chancellor. 

‘But again—admitting that a magistrate who is nominated by the 
sovereign to issue forth licenses to dissenting ministers, is competent 
to the task of judging of their natural and acquired abilities, it must 
still remain a doubtful question whether they are moved to preach by 
the influences of the Holy Ghost; for it is the prerogative of God alone 
to “search the heart and try the reins” of the children of men. Con- 
sequently, after every effort of the ruling powers to assume to them- 
selves the right of judging whether a man be or be not qualified to 
preach, the most essential property of the call must remain to be 
determined by the conscience of the individual. 

‘It is further worthy of observation that the talents of a preacher 
may be acceptable to many persons, if not to him who issues the 
license. ‘The taste of a person thus high in office may be too refined 
to derive gratification from any but the most learned, intelligent, and 
accomplished preachers. Yet, as the gospel is sent to the poor as well 
as to the rich, perhaps hundreds of preachers may be highly acceptable, 
much esteemed, and eminently useful in their respective circles, who 
would be despised as men of mean attainments by one whose mind is 
well stored with literature, and cultivated by science. From these 
remarks, I infer, that‘a man’s own judgment must be the criterion, in 
determining what line of conduct to pursue before he begins to preach: 
and the opinion of the people to whom he ministers must determine 
whether it be desirable that he should continue to fill their pulpit’— 
(168—173.) 


The sentiments of Philagatharches are expressed still more 
strongly in a subsequent passage. 


‘Here a question may arise—what line of conduct conscientious 
ministers ought to pursue, if laws were to be enacted, forbidding 
either all dissenting ministers to preach, or only lay preachers; or for- 
bidding to preach in an unlicensed place; and, at the same time, re- 
fusing to license persons and places, except under such security as 
the property of the parties would not meet, or under limitations to 
which their consciences could not accede. What has been advanced 
ought to outweigh every consideration of temporal interest; and if the 
evil genius of persecution were to appear again, I pray God that we 
might all be faithful to Him who hath called us to preach the gospel. 
Under such circumstances, let us continue to preach: if fined, let us 
pay the penalty, and persevere in preaching; and, when unable to pay 
the fine, or deeming it impolitic so to do, let "ae subinit to go quietly to 
prison, but with the resolution still to preach upon the first opportu- 
nity, and, if possible, to collect a church even within the precincts of 
the gaol. He who, by these zealous exertions, becomes the honoured 
instrument of converting one sinner unto God, will find that single 


214 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


seal to his ministerial labours an ample compensation for all his suf- 
ferings. In this manner the venerable apostle of the Gentiles both 
avowed and proved his sincere attachment to the cause in which he 
had embarked:—“*The Holy Ghost witnesseth, in every city, that 
bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my 
course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” 

‘In the early ages of Christianity martyrdom was considered an 
eminent honour; and many of the primitive Christians thrust them- 
selves upon the notice of their heathen persecutors, that they might be 
brought to suffer in the cause of that Redeemer whom they ardently 
loved. In the present day Christians in general incline to estimate 
such rash ardour as a species of enthusiasm, and feel no disposition 
to court the horrors of persecution; yet, if such dark and tremendous 
days were to return in this age of the world, ministers should retain 
their stations; they should be true to their charge; they should con- 
tinue their ministrations, each man in his sphere, shining with all the 
lustre of genuine godliness, to dispel the gloom in which the nation 
would then be enveloped. If this line of conduct were to be adopted, 
and acted upon with decision, the cause of piety, of nonconformity, 
and of itinerant preaching, must eventually triumph. All the gaols 
in the country would speedily be filled: those houses of correction 
which were erected for the chastisement of the vicious in the com- 
munity, would be replenished with thousands of the most pious, 
active, and useful men in the kingdom, whose characters are held in 
general esteem. But the ultimate result of such despotic proceedings 
is beyond the ken of human prescience:—probably, appeals to the 
public and the legislature would teem from the press, and, under such 
circumstances, might diffuse a revolutionary apres throughout the 
country. _(239—243.) 


We quote these opinions at length, not because they are the 
opinions of Philagatharches, but because we are confident 
that they are the opinions of ten thousand hot-headed fanatics, 
and that they would firmly and conscientiously be acted upon. 

Philagatharches is an instance (not uncommon, we are sorry 
to say, even among the most rational of the Protestant Dis- 
senters) of a love of toleration combined with a love of perse- 
cution. He is a Dissenter, and earnestly demands religious 
liberty for that body of men; but as for the Catholics, he 
would not only continue their present disabilities, but load 
them with every new one that could be conceived. He ex- 
pressly says that an Atheist or a Deist may be allowed to 
propagate their doctrines, but. not a Catholic; and then pro- 
ceeds with all the customary trash against that sect which 
nine schoolboys out of ten now know how to refute. So it is 


TOLERATION. 215 


with Philagatharches ;—so it is with weak men in every sect. 
It has ever been our object, and (in spite of misrepresentation 
and abuse) ever shall be our object, to put down this spirit— 
to protect the true interests, and to diffuse the true spirit, of 
toleration. ‘To a well-supported national Establishment, effec- 
tually discharging its duties, we are very sincere friends. If 
any man, after he has paid his contribution to this great secu- 
rity for the existence of religion in any shape, chooses to 
adopt a religion of his own, that man should be permitted to 
do so without let, molestation, or disqualification for any of 
the offices of life. We apologize to men of sense for senti- 
ments so trite; and patiently endure the anger which they 
will excite among those with whom they will pass for original. 


216 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


CHARLES FOX. (Enpixsvureus Review, 1811.) 


A Vindication of Mr. Fox’s History of the Early Part of the Reign of 
James the Second. By Samuel Heywood, Serjeant-at-Law. Lon- 
don. Johnson & Co. 1811. . 


Tove Mr. Fox’s history was, of course, as much open to 
animadversion and rebuke as any other book, the task, we 
think, would have become any other person better than Mr. 
Rose. ‘The whole of Mr. Fox’s life was spent in opposing 
the profligacy and exposing the ignorance of his own court. 
In the first half of his political career, while Lord North was 
losing America, and in the latter half, while Mr. Pitt was 
ruining Europe, the creatures of the government were eter- 
nally exposed to the attacks of this discerning, dauntless, and 
most powerful speaker. Folly and corruption never had a 
more terrible enemy in the English House of Commons—one 
whom it was so impossible to bribe, so hopeless to elude, and 
so difficult to answer. Now it so happened, that, during the 
whole of this period, the historical critic of Mr. Fox was em- 
ployed in subordinate offices of government ;—that the detail 
of taxes passed through his hands ;—that he amassed a large 
fortune by those occupations ;—and that, both in the measures 
which he supported, and in the friends from whose patronage 
he received his emoluments, he was completely and perpetually 
opposed to Mr. Fox. 

Again, it must be remembered, that very great people have 
very long memories for the injuries which they receive, or 
which they think they receive. No speculation was so good, 
therefore, as to vilify the memory of Mr. Fox,—nothing so 
delicious as to lower him in the public estimation,—no service 
so likely to be well rewarded—so eminently grateful to those 
of whose favour Mr. Rose had so often tasted the sweets, and 
of the value of whose patronage he must, from long expe- 
rience, have been so thoroughly aware. 

We are almost inclined to think that we might at one time 
have worked ourselves up to suspect Mr. Rose of being ac- 


CHARLES FOX. 217 


tuated by some of these motives:—not because we have any 
reason to think worse of that gentleman than of most of his po- 
litical associates, but merely because it seemed to us so very 
probable that he should have been so influenced. Our suspi- 
cions, however, were entirely removed by the frequency and 
violence of his own protestations. He vows so solemnly that 
he has no bad motive in writing his critique, that we find it 
impossible to withhold our belief in his purity. But Mr. 
Rose does not trust to his protestations alone. He is not 
satisfied with assurances that he did not write his book from 
any bad motive, but he informs us that his motive was excel- 
lent,—and is even obliging enough to tell us what that motive 
was. The Earl of Marchmont, it seems, was Mr. Rose’s 
friend. ‘To Mr. Rose he left his manuscripts; and among 
these manuscripts was a narrative written by Sir Patrick 
Hume, an ancestor of the Earl of Marchmont, and one of the 
leaders in Argyle’s rebellion. Of Sir Patrick Hume Mr. 
Rose conceives (a little erroneously to be sure, but he assures 
us he does conceive) Mr. Fox to have spoken disrespectfully; 
and the case comes out, therefore, as clearly as possible, as 
follows. 

Sir Patrick was the progenitor, and Mr. Rose was the 
friend and sole executor, of the Earl of Marchmont; and 
therefore, says Mr. Rose, I consider it as a sacred duty to 
vindicate the character of Sir Patrick, and, for that purpose, 
to publish a long and elaborate critique upon all the doctrines 
and statements contained in Mr. Fox’s history! ‘This ap- 
pears to us about as satisfactory an explanation of Mr. Rose’s 
authorship as the exclamation of the traveller was of the name 
of Stony Stratford. 

Before Mr. Rose gave way to this intense value for Sir 
Patrick, and resolved to write a book, he should have inquired 
what accurate men there were about in society; and if he had 
once received the slightest notice of the existence of Mr. 
Samuel Heywood, serjeant-at-law, we are convinced he would 
have transfused into his own will and testament the feelings 
he derived from that of Lord Marchmont, and devolved upon 
another executor the sacred and dangerous duty of vindicating 
Sir Patrick Hume. 

The life of Mr. Rose has been principally employed in 
the painful, yet perhaps necessary, duty of increasing the 
burdens of his fellow creatures. It has been a life of detail, 

VOL. 1.—15 


218 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


onerous to the subject—onerous and lucrative to himself. It 
would be unfair to expect from one thus occupied any great 
depth of thought, or any remarkable graces of composition ; 
but we have a fair right to look for habits of patient research 
and scrupulous accuracy. We might naturally expect indus- 
try in collecting facts, and fidelity in quoting them ; and hope, 
in the absence of commanding genius, to receive a compensa- 
tion from the more humble and ordinary qualities of the mind. 
How far this is the case, our subsequent remarks will enable 
the reader to judge. We shall not extend them to any great 
length, as we have before treated on the same subject in our 
review of Mr. Rose’s work. -Our great object at present is 
to abridge the observations of Sergeant Heywood. For Ser- 
geant Heywood, though a most respectable, honest, and en- 
lightened man, really does require an abridger. He has not 
the talent of saying what he has to say quickly; nor is he 
aware that brevity is in writing what charity is to all other 
virtues. Righteousness is worth nothing without the one, nor 
authorship without the other. But whoever will forgive this 
little defect will find in all his productions great learning, im- 
maculate honesty, and the most scrupulous accuracy. What- 
ever detections of Mr. Rose’s inaccuracies are made in this 
Review are to be entirely given to him; and we confess our- 
selves quite astonished at their number and extent. 


“Among the modes of destroying persons (says Mr. Fox, p. 14,) in 
such a situation (7.e. monarchs deposed), there can be little doubt but 
that adopted by Cromwell and his adherents ts the least dishonourable. 
Edward II., Richard II., Henry VI., Edward V., had none of them long 
survived their deposal; but this was the first instance, in our history 
at least, when of such an act it could be truly said it was not done in 
a corner.’ 


What Mr. Rose can find in this sentiment to quarrel with, 
we are utterly at a loss to conceive. If a human being is to 
be put to death unjustly, is it no mitigation of such a lot that 
the death should be public? Is any thing better calculated to 
prevent secret torture and cruelty? And would Mr. Rose, in 
mercy to Charles, have preferred that red-hot iron should 
have been secretly thrust into his entrails ?—or that he should 
have disappeared as Pichegru and ‘Toussaint have disappeared 
in our times? The periods of the Edwards and Henrys were, 
it is true, barbarous periods: but this is the very argument 
Mr. Fox uses. All these murders, he contends, were immoral 


CHARLES FOX. 219 


and bad; but that where the manner was the least objection- 
able, was the murder of Charles the First,—because it was 
public. And can any human being doubt, in the first place, 
that these crimes would be marked by less intense cruelty if 
they were public, and, secondly, that they would become less 
frequent, where the perpetrators incurred responsibility, than 
if they were committed by an uncertain hand in secrecy and 
concealment? ‘There never was, in short, not ‘only a more 
innocent, but a more obvious sentiment; and to object to it 
in the manner which Mr. Rose has done, is surely to love Sir 
Patrick Hume too much,—if there can be any excess in so 
very commendable a passion in the breast of a sole executor. 

Mr. Fox proceeds to observe, that ‘he who has discussed 
this subject with foreigners, must have observed, that the act 
of the execution of Charles, even in the minds of those who 
condemn it, excites more admiration than disgust.’ If the 
sentiment is bad, let those who feel it answer for it. Mr. Fox 
only asserts the fact, and explains, without justifying it. The 
only question (as concerns Mr. Fox) is, whether such is, or is 
not, the feeling of foreigners; and whether that feeling (if it 
exists) is rightly explained? We have no doubt either of the 
fact or of the explanation. ‘The conduct of Cromwell and his 
associates was not to be excused in the main act; but, in the 
manner, it was magnanimous. And among the servile na- 
tions of the Continent, it must naturally excite a feeling of joy 
and wonder, that the power of the people had for once been 
felt, and so memorable a lesson read to those whom they must 
naturally consider as the great oppressors of mankind. 

The most unjustifiable point of Mr. Rose’s accusation, 
however, is still to come. ‘If such high praise,’ says that 
gentleman, ‘ was, in the judgment of Mr. Fox, due to Crom- 
well for the publicity of the proceedings against the king, 
how would he have found language sufficiently commendatory 
to express his admiration of the magnanimity of those who 
brought Lewis the Sixteenth to an open trial?? Mr. Rose 
accuses Mr. Fox, then, of approving the execution of Lewis 
the Sixteenth: but, on the 20th December, 1792, Mr. Fox 
said, in the House of Commons, in the presence of Mr. Rose, 


‘The proceedings with respect to the royal family of France, are 
so far from being magnanimity, justice, or mercy, that they are di- 
rectly the reverse; they are injustice, cruelty, and pusillanimity.’ And 
afterwards declared his wish for an address to his majesty, to which 


220 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


he would add an expression ‘of our abhorrence of the proceedings 
against the royal family of France, in which, I have no doubt, we 
shall be supported by the whole country. If there can be any means 
suggested that will be better adapted to produce the unanimous 
concurrence of this House, and of all the country, with respect to the 
measure now under consideration in Paris, I should be obliged to any 
person for his better suggestion upon the subject.’ Then, after stating 
that such address, especially if the Lords joined in it, must have a de- 
cisive influence in France, he added, ‘I have said thus much in order 
to contradict one of the most cruel misrepresentations of what I have 
before said in our late debates ; and that my language may not be in- 
terpreted from the manner in which other gentlemen have chosen to 
answer it. I have spoken the genuine sentiments of my heart, and I 
anxiously wish the House to come to some resolution upon the subject.’ 
And on the following day, when a copy of instructions sent to Earl 
Gower, signifying that he should leave Paris, was laid before the 
House of Commons, Mr. Fox said, ‘he had heard it said, that the pro- 
ceedings against the King of France are unnecessary. He would go 
a great deal farther, and say, he believed them to be highly unjust; 
and not only repugnant to all the common feelings of mankind, but 
also contrary to all the fundamental principles of law.’—(p. 20, 21.) 


On Monday the 28th January, he said,—— 


‘With regard to that part of the communication from his majesty, 
which related to the late detestable scene exhibited in a neighbouring 
country, he could not suppose there were two opinions in that House; 
he knew they were all ready to declare their abhorrence of that abo- 
minableproceeding.’—(p. 21.) 


Two days afterwards, in the debate on the message, Mr. 
Fox pronounced the condemnation and execution of the king 
to be | 


—‘an act as disgraceful as any that history recorded: and whatever 
opinions he might at any time have expressed in private conversation, 
he had expressed none certainly in that House on the justice of bring- 
ing kings to trial: revenge being unjustifiable, and punishment use- 
less, where it could not operate either by way of prevention or exam- 
ple; he did not view with less detestation the injustice and inhu- 
manity that had been committed towards that unhappy monarch. Not 
only were the rules of criminal justice—rules that more than any 
other ought to be strictly observed—violated with respect to him: not 
only was he tried and condemned without existing law, to which he 
was personally amenable, and even contrary to laws that did actually 
exist, but the degrading circumstances of his imprisonment, the un- 
necessary and insulting asperity with which he had been treated, the 
total want of republican magnanimity in the whole transaction, (for even 
in that House it could be no offence to say, that there might be such a 
thing as magnanimity in a republic,) added every aggravation to the 
inhumanity and injustice.’ 


CHARLES FOX. 221 


That Mr. Fox had held this language in the House of Com- 
mons, Mr. Rose knew perfectly well, when he accused that 
gentleman of approving the murder of the King of France. 
Whatever be the faults imputed to Mr. Fox, duplicity and 
hypocrisy were never among the number; and no human 
being ever doubted but that Mr. Fox, in this instance, spoke 
his real sentiments: but the love of Sir Patrick Hume is an 
overwhelming passion; and no man who gives way to it, can 
ever say into what excesses he may be hurried. 


Non simul cuiquam conceditur, amare et sapere. 


The next point upon which Sergeant Heywood attacks Mr. 
Rose, is that of General Monk. Mr. Fox says of Monk, 
‘that he acquiesced in the insult so meanly put upon the illus- 
trious corpse of Blake, under whose auspices and command 
he had performed the most creditable services of his life.’ 
This story, Mr. Rose says, rests upon the authority of Neale, 
in his History of the Puritans. This is the first of many 
blunders made by Mr. Rose upon this particular topic: for 
Anthony Wood, in his Fasti Oxonienses, enumerating Blake 
among the bachelors, says, ‘His body was taken up, and, 
with others, buried in a pit in St. Margaret’s church-yard 
adjoining, near to the back door of one of the prebendaries of 
Westminster, in which place it now remaineth, enjoying no 
other monument but what it reared by its valour, which time 
itself can hardly efface.’ But the difficulty is to find how the 
denial of Mr. Rose affects Mr. Fox’s assertion. Mr. Rose 
admits that Blake’s body was dug up by an order of the king; 
and does not deny that it was done with the acquiescence of 
Monk. Butif this be the case, Mr. Fox’s position that Blake 
was insulted, and that Monk acquiesced in the insult, is clearly 
made out. Nor has Mr. Rose the shadow of an authority for 
saying that the corpse of Blake was reinterred with great de- 
corum. Kennet is silent upon the subject. We have already 
given Serjeant Heywood’s quotation from Anthony Wood; 
and this statement, for the present, rests entirely upon the 
assertion of Mr. Rose; and upon that basis will remain to all 
eternity. 

Mr. Rose, who, we must say, on all occasions through the 
whole of this book, makes the greatest parade of his accuracy, 
states that the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Blake, were 
taken up at the same time; whereas the fact is, that those of 


222 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Cromwell and Ireton were taken up on the 26th of January, 
and that of Blake on the 10th of September, nearly nine 
months afterwards. It may appear frivolous to notice such 
errors as these; but they lead to very strong suspicions in a 
critic of history and of historians. They show that those 
habits of punctuality, on the faith of which he demands im- 
plicit confidence from his readers, really do not exist; they 
prove that such a writer will be exact only when he thinks the 
occasion of importance ; and as he himself is the only judge of 
that importance, it is necessary to examine his proofs in every 
instance, and impossible to trust him anywhere. 

Mr. Rose remarks that, in the weekly paper entitled Mer- 
curius Rusticus, No. 4, where an account is given of the dis- 
interment of Cromwell and Ireton, not a syllable is said respect- 
ing the corpse of Blake. ‘This is very true; but the reason 
(which does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Rose) is, that 
Blake’s corpse was not touched till six months afterwards. 
This is really a little too much. That Mr. Rose should quit 
his usual pursuits, erect himself into an historical critic, perch 
upon the body of the dead lion, impugn the accuracy of one of 
the greatest, as well as most accurate men of his time,—and 
himself be guilty of such gross and unpardonable negligence, 
looks so very much like an insensibility to shame, that we 
should be loth to characterize his conduct by the severe epi- 
thets which it appears to merit, and which, we are quite cer- 
tain, Sir Patrick, the defendee, would have been the first to 
bestow upon it. 

The next passage in Mr. Fox’s work objected to is that 
which charges Monk, at the trial of Argyle, ‘ with having pro- 
duced letters of friendship and confidence to take away the life 
of a nobleman, the zeal and cordiality of whose co-operation 
with him, proved by such documents, was the chief ground of 
his execution.” ‘This accusation, says Mr. Rose, rests upon 
the sole authority of Bishop Burnet; and yet no sooner has 
he said this, than he tells us, Mr. Zazng considers the bishop’s 
authority to be confirmed by Cunningham and Baillie, both 
contemporary writers. Into Cunningham or Baillie Mr. Rose 
never looks to see whether or not they do really confirm the 
authority of the bishop; and so gross is his negligence, that 
the very misprint from Mr. Laing’s work is copied, and page 
431 of Baillie is cited instead of 451. If Mr. Rose had really 
taken the trouble of referring to these books, all doubt of the 


CHARLES FOX. 223 


meanness and guilt of Monk must have been instantly removed. 
‘Monk was moved,’ says Baillie, ‘fo send down four or five 
of Argyle’s letters to himself and others, promising his full 
compliance with them, that the king should not reprieve 
him.’—Baillie’s Letters, p. 451. ‘He endeavoured to make 
his defence,’ says Cunningham; ‘but chiefly by the discove- 
ries of Monk was condemned of high treason, and lost his 
head.’—Cunningham’s History, i. p. 13. 

Would it have been more than common decency required, 
if Mr. Rose, who had been apprised of the existence of these 
authorities, had had recourse to them, before he impugned the 
accuracy of Mr. Fox? Or is it possible to read, without 
some portion of contempt, this slovenly and indolent corrector 
of supposed inaccuracies in a man, not only so much greater 
than himself in his general nature, but a man who, as it turns 
out, excels Mr. Rose in his own little arts of looking, search- 
ing, and comparing; and is as much his superior in the retail 
qualities which small people arrogate to themselves, as he was. 
in every commanding faculty to the rest of his fellow crea- 
tures ? 

Mr. Rose searches Thurloe’s State Papers; but Serjeant 
Heywood searches them after Mr. Rose: and, by a series of 
the plainest references, proves the probability there is that 
Argyle did receive letters which might materially have affected 
his life. 

To Monk’s duplicity of conduct may be principally attri- 
buted the destruction of his friends, who were prevented, by 
their confidence in him, from taking measures to secure them- 
selves. He selected those among them whom he thought fit 
for trial—sat as a commissioner upon their trial—and inter- 
fered not to save the lives even of those with whom he had 
lived in habits of the greatest kindness. 


‘TI cannot,’ says a witness of the most unquestionable authority, ‘I 
cannot forget one passage that Isaw. Monk and his wife, before they 
were moved to the Tower, while they were yet prisoners at Lambeth 
House, came one evening to the garden, and caused them to be brought 
down, only to stare at them; which was such a barbarism, for that 
man who had betrayed so many poor men to death and misery, that 
never hurt him, but had honoured him, and trusted their lives and 
interests with him, to glut his bloody eyes with beholding them in 
their bondage, as no story can parallel the inhumanity of’—(p. 83.) 
Hutchinson’s Memoirs, 378. ‘ 


This, however, is the man whom Mr. Fox, at the distance 


224 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


of a century and a half, may not mark with infamy, without 
incurring, from the candour of Mr. Rose, the imputation of 
republican principles ;—as if attachment to monarchy could 
have justified, in Monk, the coldness, cruelty, and treachery of 
his character,—as if the historian became the advocate, or the 
enemy of any form of government, by praising the good, or 
blaming the bad men which it might produce. Serjeant Hey- 
wood sums up the whole article as follows:— 


‘Having examined and commented upon the evidence produced by 
Mr. Rose, than which “it is hardly possible,” he says, “to conceive 
that stronger could be formed in any case to establish a negative,” 
we now Safely assert that Mr. Fox had fully informed himself upon 
the subject before he wrote, and was amply justified in the condemna- 
tion of Monk, and the consequent severe censures upon him. It has 
been already demonstrated that the character of Monk had been truly 
given, when of him he said, “the army had fallen into the hands of 
one, than whom a baser could not be found in its lowest ranks.” The 
transactions between him and Argyle for a certain period of time 
were such as must naturally, if not necessarily, have led them into an 
epistolary correspondence; and it was in exact conformity with Monk’s 
character and conduct to the regicides, that he should betray the letters 
written to him, in order to destroy a man whom he had, in the latter 
part of his command in Scotland, both feared and hated. If the fact 
of the production of these letters had stood merely on the testimony of 
Bishop Burnet, we have seen that nothing has been .produced by Mr. 
Rose and Dr. Campbell to impeach it; on the contrary, an inquiry into 
the authorities and documents they have cited, strongly confirm it. 
But, as before observed, it is a surprising instance of Mr. Rose’s in- 
dolence, that he should state the question todepend now, as it did in 
Dr. Campbell’s time, on the bishop’s authority solely. But that autho- 
rity is, in itself, no light one. Burnet was almost eighteen years of 
age at the time of Argyle’s trial; he was never an unobserving spec- 
tator of public events; he was probably at Edinburgh, and, for some 
years afterwards, remained in Scotland, with ample means of informa- 
tion respecting events which had taken place so recently. Baillie 
seems also to have been upon the spot, and expressly confirms the 
testimony of Burnet. To these must be added Cunningham, who, 
writing as a person perfectly acquainted with the circumstances of 
the transaction, says it was owing to the interference of Monk, who 
had been his great friend in Oliver’s time, that he was sent back to 
Scotland, and brought to trial; and that he was condemned chiefly by 
his discoveries. We may now ask where is the improbability of this 
story, when related of such a man? and what ground there is for not 
giving credit to a fact attested by three witnesses of veracity, each 
writing at a distance, and separate from each other? In this instance 
Bishop Burnet is-so confirmed, that no reasonable being who will 
attend to the subject, can doubt of the fact he relates being true; and 
we shall hereafter prove that the general imputation against his ac- 


CHARLES FOX. 225 


curacy made by Mr. Rose, is totally without foundation. If facts so 
proved are not to be credited, historians may lay aside their pens, and 
every man must content himself with the scanty pittance of know- 
ledge he may be able to collect for himself in the very limited sphere 
of his own immediate observation.’—(p. 86—88.) 


This, we think, is conclusive enough: but we are happy to 
be enabled, out of our own Store, to set this part of the ques- 
tion finally to rest, by an authority which Mr. Rose himself 
will probably admit to be decisive. Sir George Mackenzie, 
the great tory lawyer of Scotland in that day, and Lord Ad- 
vocate to Charles II., through the greater part of his reign, 
was the leading counsel for Argyle on the trial alluded to. In 
1678, this learned person, who was then Lord Advocate to 
Charles, published an elaborate treatise on the criminal law of 
Scotland; in which, when treating of probation, or evidence, 
he observes, that missive letters, not written, but only signed 
-by the party, should not be received in evidence; and imme- 
diately adds, ‘And yet the Marquis of Argyle was convict 
of treason UPON LETTERS WRITTEN BY HIM TO GENERAL 
Monk; these letters being only subscribed by him, and not 
holograph, and the subscription being proved per compara- . 
tionem literarum; which were very hard in other cases,’ &c. 
—Mackenzie’s Criminals, first edit. p. 524, Part II. tit. 25, 
§3. Now this, we conceive, is neither more nor less than a 
solemn professional report of the case,—and leaves just as little 
room for doubt as to the fact, as if the original record of the 
trial had been recovered. 

Mr. Rose next objects to Mr. Fox’s assertion, that ‘the 
king kept from his cabal ministry the real state of his con- 
nection with France—and from some of them the secret of 
what he was pleased to call his religion;’ and Mr. Fox doubts 
whether to attribute this conduct to the habitual treachery of 
Charles, or to an apprehension that his ministers might de- 
mand for themselves some share of the French money ; which 
he was unwilling to give them. In answer to this conjecture, 
Mr. Rose quotes Barillon’s Letters to Lewis XIV. to show 
that Charles’s ministers were fully apprised of his money 
transactions with France. The letters so quoted were, how- 
ever, written seven years after the cabal ministry were in 
power—for Barillon did not come to England as ambassador 
till 1677—and these letters were not written till after that pe- 


226 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


riod. Poor Sir Patrick—It was for thee and thy defence this 
book was written !!!! 

Mr. Fox has said, that from some of the ministers of the 
cabal the secret of Charles’s religion was concealed. It was 
known to Arlington, admitted by Mr. Rose to be a concealed 
Catholic; it was known to Clifford, an avowed Catholic: Mr. 
Rose admits it not to have been known to Buckingham, though 
he explains the reserve, with respect to him, in a different 
way. He has not, however, attempted to prove that Lauder- 
dale or Ashley were consulted ;—on the contrary, in Colbert’s 
letter of the 25th August 1670, cited by Mr. Rose, it is stated 
that Charles had proposed the traité simulé, which should be 
a repetition of the former one in all things, except the article 
relative to the king’s declaring himself a Catholic, and that 
the Protestant ministers, Buckingham, Ashley, Cooper, and 
Lauderdale, should be brought to be parties to it:—-Can there 
be a stronger proof (asks Serjeant Heywood), that they were 
ignorant of the same treaty made the year before, and remain- 
ing then in force? Historical research is certainly not the pe- 
culiar talent of Mr. Rose; and as for the official accuracy of 
which he is so apt to boast, we would have Mr. Rose-to re- 
member, that the term official accuracy has of late days be- 
come one of very ambiguous import. Mr. Rose, we can see, 
would imply by it the highest possible accuracy—as we see 
office pens advertised in the window of a shop, by way of ex- 
cellence. The public reports of those, however, who have 
been appointed to look into the manner in which public offices 
are conducted, by no means justify this usage of the term;— 
and we are not without apprehensions, that Dutch politeness, 
Carthaginian faith, Beeotian genius, and official accuracy, may 
be terms equally current in the world; and that Mr. Rose may, 
without intending it, have contributed to make this valuable 
addition to the mass of our ironical phraseology. 

Speaking of the early part of James’s reign, Mr. Fox says, 
it is by no means certain that he had yet thoughts of obtaining 
for his religion any thing more than a complete toleration ; and 
if Mr. Rose had understood the meaning of the French word 
établissement, one of his many incorrect corrections of Mr. 
Fox might have been spared. A system of religion is said to 
be established when it is enacted and endowed by Parliament; 
but a toleration (as Serjeant Heywood observes) is established, 
when it is recognized and protected by the supreme power. 


CHARLES FOX. 227 


And in the letters of Barillon, to which Mr. Rose refers for 
the justification of his attack upon Mr. Fox, it is quite mani- 
fest that it is in this latter sense that the word établissement 
is used; and that the object in view was, not the substitution 
of the Catholic religion for the Established Church, but merely 
its toleration. In the first letter cited by Mr. Rose, James 
says, that ‘he knew well he should never be in safety unless 
liberty of conscience for them should be fully established in 
England.’ ‘The letter of the 24th of April is quoted by Mr. 
Rose, as if the French king had written, the establishment of 
the Catholic religion; whereas the real words are, the estab- 
lishment of the free exercise of the Catholic religion. The 
world are so inveterately resolved to believe, that a man who 
has no brilliant talents must be accurate, that Mr. Rose, in 
referring to authorities, has a great and decided advantage. 
He is, however, in point of fact, as lax and incorrect as a poet; 
and it is absolutely necessary, in spite of every parade of line, 
and page, and number, to follow him in the most minute par- 
ticular. ‘The serjeant, like a bloodhound of the old breed, is 
always upon his track; and always looks if there are any such 
passages in the page quoted, and if the passages are accurately 
quoted or accurately translated. Nor will he by any means 
be content with official accuracy, nor submit to be treated, in 
historical questions, as if he were hearing financial statements 
in the House of Commons. 

Barillon writes, in another letter to Lewis XIV.—‘* What 
your majesty has most besides at heart, that is to say, for the 
establishment of a free exercise of the Catholic religion.’ On 
the 9th of May, Lewis writes to Barillon, that he is persuaded 
Charles will employ all his authority to establish the free exer- 
cise of the Catholic religion: he mentions also, in the same 
letter, the Parliament consenting to the free exercise of our 
religion. On the 15th of June, he writes to Barillon—‘ There 
now remains only fo obtain the repeal of the penal laws in 
favour of the Catholics, and the free exercise of our religion 
in all his states.’ Immediately after Monmouth’s execution, 
when his views of success’ must have been as lofty as they 
ever could have been, Lewis writes—‘ It will be easy to the 
King of England, and as useful for the security of his reign as 
for the repose of his conscience, to re-establish the exercise of 
the Catholic religion.’ In a letter of Barillon, July 16th, Sun- 
derland is made to say, that the king would always be ex- 


228 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


posed to the indiscreet zeal of those who would inflame the 
people against the Catholic religion, so long as it should not 
be more fully established. ‘The French expression is, tant 
qu elle ne sera pas plus pleinement établie; and this Mr. Rose 
has had the modesty to translate, t2/l if shall be completely 
established, and to mark the passage with italics, as of the 
greatest importance to his argument. ‘These false quotations 
and translations being detected, and those passages of early 
writers, from which Mr. Fox had made up his opinion, brought 
to light, it is not possible to doubt, but that the object of James, 
before Monmouth’s defeat, was not the destruction of the Pro- 
testant, but the toleration of the Catholic religion; and. after 
the execution of Monmouth, Mr. Fox admits, that he became 
more bold and sanguine upon the subject of religion. 

We do not consider those observations of Serjeant Hey- 
wood to be the most fortunate in his book, where he attempts 
to show the republican tendency of Mr. Rose’s principles. 
Of any disposition to principles of this nature, we most heartily 
acquit that right honourable gentleman. . He has too much 
knowledge of mankind to believe their happiness can be 
promoted in the stormy and tempestuous regions of repub- 
licanism ; and, besides this, that system of slender pay, and 
deficient perquisites, to which the subordinate agents of 
government are confined in republics, is much too painful 
to be thought of for a single instant. 

We are afraid of becoming tedious by the enumeration of 
blunders into which Mr. Rose has fallen, and which Serjeant 
Heywood has detected. But the burthen of this sole execu- 
tor’s song is accuracy—his own official accuracy—and the 
little dependence which is to be placed on the accuracy of Mr. 
Fox. We will venture to assert, that, in the whole of his 
work, he has not detected Mr. Fox in one single error. 
Whether Serjeant Heywood has been more fortunate with 
respect to Mr. Rose, might be determined, perhaps with suffi- 
cient certainty, by our previous extracts from his remarks. 
But for some indulgent readers, these may not seem enough: 
and we must proceed in the task, till we have settled Mr. 
Rose’s pretensions to accuracy on a still firmer foundation. 
And if we be thought minutely severe, let it be remembered 
that Mr. Rose is himself an accuser; and if there is justice 
upon earth, every man has a right to pull stolen goods out of 
the pocket of him who cries, ‘ Stop thief’ 


CHARLES FOX. 229 


In the story which Mr. Rose states of the seat in Parliament 
sold for five pounds (Journal of the Commons, vol. v.), he is 
wrong, both in the sum and the volume. The sum is four 
pounds; and it is told, not in the fifth volume, but the first. 
Mr. Rose states, that a perpetual excise was granted to the 
crown, in lieu of the profits of the court of wards; and adds, 
that the question in favour of the crown was carried by a 
majority of two. ‘The real fact is, that the half only of an 
excise upon certain articles was granted to government in lieu 
of these profits; and this grant was carried without a divi- 
sion. An attempt was made to grant the other half, and this 
was negatived by a majority of two. ‘The Journals are 
open;—Mr. Rose reads them;—he is officially accurate. 
What can the meaning be of these most extraordinary mistakes? 

Mr. Rose says that, in 1679, the writ de heretico com- 
burendo had been a dead letter for more than a century. It 
would have been extremely agreeable to Mr. Bartholomew 
Legate, if this had been the case; for, in 1612, he was burnt 
at Smithfield for being an Arian. Mr. Wightman would pro- 
bably have participated in the satisfaction of Mr. Legate; as 
he was burnt also, the same year, at Lichfield, for the same 
offence. With the same correctness, this scourge of historians 
makes the Duke of Lauderdale, who died in 1682, a confi- 
dential adviser of James II. after his accession in 1689. In 
page 13, he quotes, as written by Mr. Fox, that which was 
written by Lord Holland. This, however, is a familiar prac- 
tice with him. ‘Ten pages afterwards, in Mr. Fox’s History, 
he makes the same mistake. ‘Mr. Fox added’—whereas it 
was Lord Holland thatadded. ‘The same mistake again in p. 
147 of his own book; and after this, he makes Mr. Fox the per- 
son who selected the appendix of Barillon’s papers ; whereas 
it is particularly stated in the preface to the History, that this 
appendix was selected by Laing. 

Mr. Rose affirms, that compassing to levy war against the 
king was made high treason by the statute of 25 Edward the 
Third; and, in support of this affirmation, he cites Coke and 
Blackstone. His stern antagonist, a professional man, is con- 
vinced he has read neither. ‘The former says, ‘a compassing 
to levy war is no treason’ (Inst. 3. p. 9.); and Blackstone, ‘a 
bare conspiracy to levy war does not amount to this species 
of treason.’ (Com. iv. p. 82.) This really does not look as 
if the Serjeant had made out his assertion. 


230 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Of the bill introduced in 1685, for the preservation of the 
person of James II., Mr. Rose observes—‘ Mr. Fox has not 
told us for which of our modern statutes this bill was used as 
a model; and it will be difficult for any one to show such an 
instance.’ It might have been thought, that no prudent man 
would have made such a challenge, without a tolerable cer- 
tainty of the ground upon whichit was made. Serjeant Hey- 
wood answers the challenge by citing the 36 Geo. III. c. 7, 
which is a mere copy of the act of James. 

In the fifth section of Mr. Rose’s work is contained his 
grand attack upon Mr. Fox for his abuse of Sir Patrick 
Hume; and his observations upon this point admit of a fourfold 
answer. Ist, Mr. Fox does not use the words quoted by Mr. 
Rose; 2dly, He makes no mention whatever of Sir Patrick 
Hume in the passage cited by Mr. Rose; 3dly, Sir Patrick 
Hume is attacked by nobody in that history; 4thly, If he had 
been so attacked he would have deserved it. ‘he passage 
from Mr. Fox is this:— 


‘In recounting the failure of his expedition, it is impossible for him 
not to touch upon what he deemed the misconduct of his friends; and 
this is the subject upon which, of all others, his temper must have 
been most irritable. A certain description of friends (the words 
describing them are omitted) were all of them, without exception, 
his greatest enemies, both to betray and destroy him: and 
and (the names again omitted) were the greatest cause of his rout, 
and his being taken, though not designedly, he acknowledges, but by 
ignorance, cowardice, and faction. This sentence had scarce escaped 
him, when, notwithstanding the qualifying words with which his can- 
dour has acquitted the last mentioned persons of intentional treachery, it 
appeared too harsh to his gentle nature; and, declaring himself dis- 
pleased with the hard epithets he had used, he desires that they may 
be put out of any account that is to be given of these transactions.’ — 
Heywood, p. 365, 366. 








Argyle names neither the description of friends who were his 
greatest enemies, nor the two individuals who were the prin- 
cipal cause of the failure of his scheme. Mr. Fox leaves the 
blanks ashe finds them. Buf two notes are added by the editor, 
which Mr. Rose might have observed are marked with an Z. 
In the latter of them we are told, that Mr. Fox observes, in a 
private letter, ‘Cochrane and Hume certainly filled up the 
two principal blanks.’ But is this communication of a private 
letter any part of Mr. Fox’s history? And would it not have 
been equally fair in Mr. Rose to have commented upon any 


CHARLES FOX. 231 


private conversation of Mr. Fox, and then to have called it 
his history? Or, if Mr. Fox had filled up the blanks in the 
body of his history, does it follow that he adopts Argyle’s 
censure because he shows against whom it is levelled? Mr. 
Rose has described the charge against Sir Patrick Hume to 
be, of faction, cowardice, and treachery. Mr. Rose has more 
than once altered the terms of a proposition before he has 
proceeded to answer it; and, in this instance, the charge of 
treachery against Sir Patrick Hume is not made either in 
Argyle’s letter, Mr. Fox’s text, or the editor’s note, or any 
where but in the imagination of Mr. Rose. The sum of it 
all is, that Mr. Rose first supposes the relation of Argyle’s 
opinion to be the expression of the relator’s opinion, that Mr. 
Fox adopts Argyle’s insinuations because he explains them ; 
—then he looks upon a quotation from a private letter, made 
by the editor, to be the same as if included ina work intended 
for publication by the author ;—then he remembers that he is 
the sole executor of Sir Patrick’s grandson, whose blank is so 
filled up ;—and goes on blundering and blubbering,—grateful 
and inaccurate,—teeming with false quotations and friendly 
recollections to the conclusion of his book.—Multa gemens 
tenominiam. 

Mr. Rose came into possession of the Earl of Marchmont’s 
papers, containing, among other things, the narrative of Sir 
Patrick Hume. He is very severe upon Mr. Fox for not 
having been more diligent in searching for original papers ; 
and observes, that if any application had been made to him 
(Mr. Rose), this narrative should have been at Mr. Fox’s ser- 
vice. We should be glad to know, if Mr. Rose saw a person 
tumbled into a ditch, whether he would wait for a regular ap- 
plication till he pulled him out? Or, if he happened to espy 
the lost piece of silver for which the good woman was dili- 
gently sweeping the house, would he wait for formal interro- 
gation before he imparted his discovery, and suffer the lady 
to sweep on till the question had been put to him in the most 
solemn forms of politeness?) The established practice, we 
admit, is to apply, and to apply vigorously and incessantly, 
for sinecure places and pensions—or they cannot be had. 
This is true enough. But did any human being ever think of 
carrying this practice into literature, and compelling another 
to make interest for papers essential to the good conduct of 
his undertaking? We are perfectly astonished at Mr. Rose’s 


232 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


conduct in this particular; and should have thought that the 
ordinary exercise of his good nature would have led him to a 
very different way of acting. 

‘On the whole, and upon the most attentive consideration 
of every thing which has been written upon the subject, 
there does not appear to have been any intention of applying 
torture in the case of the Earl of Argyle.’ (Rose, p. 182.) If 
this every thing had included the following extract from Ba-. 
rillon, the above cited, and very disgraceful inaccuracy of Mr. 
Rose would have been spared. ‘The Earl of Argyle has 
been executed at Edinburgh, and has left a full confession in 
writing, in which he discovers all those who have assisted 
him with money, and have aided his designs. This has 
saved him from the torture.’ And Argyle, in his letter to 
Mrs. Smith, confesses he has made discoveries. In his very 
inaccurate history of torture in the southern part of this island, 
Mr. Rose says, that except in the case of Felton,—in the 
attempt to introduce the civil law in Henry VI.’s reign,—and 
in some cases of treason in Mary’s reign, torture was never 
attempted in this country. ‘The fact, however, is, that in the 
reign of Henry VIII., Anne Askew was tortured by the 
chancellor himself. Simson was tortured in 1558; Francis 
Throgmorton in 1571; Charles Baillie, and Banastie, the 
Duke of Norfolk’s servant, were tortured in 1581; Campier, 
the Jesuit, was put upon the rack; and Dr. Astlow is sup- 
posed to have been racked in 1558. So much for Mr. Rose 
as the historian of punishments. We have seen him, a few 
pages before, at the stake,—where he makes quite as bad a 
figure as he does now upon the rack. Precipitation and error 
are his foibles. If he were to write the history of sieges, he 
would forget the siege of 'Troy;—if he were making a list of 
poets, he would leave out Virgil:—Cesar would not appear 
in his catalogue of generals;—and Newton would be over- 
looked in his collection of eminent mathematicians. 

In some cases, Mr. Rose is to be met only with flat denial. 
Mr. Fox does not call the soldiers who were defending James 
against Argyle authorized assassins ; but he uses that expres- 
sion against the soldiers who were murdering the peasants, 
and committing every sort of licentious cruelty in the twelve 
counties given up to military execution; and this Mr. Rose 
must have known, by using the most ordinary diligence in the 


CHARLES FOX. 233 


perusal of the text,—and would have known it in any other 
history than that of Mr. Fox. 


‘Mr. Rose, in his concluding paragraph, boasts of his speaking 
“impersonally,’ and he hopes it will be allowed justly, when he 
makes a general observation respecting the proper province of his- 
tory. But the last sentence evidently shows that, though he might be 
speaking justly, he was not speaking ¢tmpersonally, if by that word is 
meant, without reference to any person. His words are, “ But history 
cannot connect itself with party, without forfeiting its name; without 
departing from the truth, the dignity, and the usefulness of its func- 
tions.” After the remarks he has made in some of his preceding 
pages, and the apology he has offered for Mr. Fox, in his last pre- 
ceding paragraph, for having been mistaken in his view of some lead- 
ing points, there can be no difficulty in concluding, that this general 
observation is meant to be applied to the historical work. The 
charge intended to be insinuated must be, that, in Mr. Fox’s hands, 
history has forfeited the name by being connected with party; and 
has departed from the truth, the dignity, and the usefulness of its 
functions. It were to be wished that Mr. Rose had explained himself 
more fully; for, after assuming that the application of this observa- 
tion is too obvious to be mistaken, there still remains some difficulty 
with respect to its meaning. If it is confined to such publications as 
are written under the title of histories, but are intended to serve the 
purposes of a party; and truth is sacrificed, and facts perverted, to 
defend and give currency to their tenets, we do not dispute its pro- 
priety; but, if that is the character which Mr. Rose would give to 
Mr. Fox’s labours, he has not treated him with candour, or even com- 
mon justice. Mr. Rose has never, in any one instance, intimated that 
Mr. Fox has wilfully departed from truth, or strayed from the proper 
province of history, for the purpose of indulging his private or party 
feelings. But, if Mr. Rose intends that the observation should be ap- 
plied to all histories, the authors of which have felt strongly the influ- 
ence of political connections and principles, what must become of 
most of the histories of England? Is the title of historian to be de- 
nied to Mr. Hume? and in what class are to be placed Echard, Ken- 
net, Rapin, Dalrymple, or Macpherson? In this point of view the 
principle laid down is too broad. A person, though connected with 
‘party, may write an impartial history of events which cccurred a 
century before; and, till this last sentence, Mr. Rose has not ventured 
to intimate that Mr. Fox has not done. so. On the contrary, he has 
declared his approbation of a great portion of the work; and his at- 
tempts to discover material errors in the remainder have uniformly 
failed in every particular. If it might be assumed that there existed 
in the book no faults, besides those which the scrutinizing eye of Mr. 
Rose has discovered, it might be justly deemed the most perfect work 
that ever came from the press; for nota single deviation from the 
strictest duty of an historian has been pointed out; while instances 
of candour and impartiality present themselves in almost every page; 

VOL. I1.—16 


234 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


and Mr. Rose himself has acknowledged and applauded many of 
them.’—(pp. 422—424.) 


These extracts from both books are sufficient to show the 
nature of Serjeant Heywood’s examination of Mr. Rose,— 
the boldness of this latter gentleman’s assertions,—and the 
extreme inaccuracy of the researches upon which these asser- 
tions are founded. If any credit could be gained from such a 
book as Mr. Rose has published, it could be gained from accu- 
racy alone. Whatever the execution of his book had been, 
the world would have remembered the infinite disparity of the 
two authors, and the long political opposition in which they 
lived—if that, indeed, can be called opposition, where the 
thunderbolt strikes, and the clay yields. They would have 
remembered also that Hector was dead; and that every cow- 
ardly Grecian could now thrust his spear into the hero’s body. 
But still, if Mr. Rose had really succeeded in exposing the 
inaccuracy of Mr. Fox,—if he could have fairly shown that 
authorities were overlooked, or slightly examined, or wilfully 
perverted,—the incipient feelings to which such a controversy 
had given birth must have yielded to the evidence of facts ; 
and Mr. Fox, however qualified in other particulars, must 
have appeared totally defective in that laborious industry and 
scrupulous good: faith so indispensable to every historian. 
But he absolutely comes out of the contest not worse even in 
a single tooth or nail—unvilified even by a wrong date——with- 
out one misnomer proved upon him——immaculate in his years 
and days of the month—blameless to the most musty and 
limited pedant that ever yellowed himself amidst rolls and 
records. 

But how fares it with his critic? He rests his credit with 
the world as a man of labour,——and he turns out to be a care- 
less inspector of proofs, and an historical sloven. The spe- 
cies of talent which he pretends to is humble,——and he pos- 
sesses it not. He has not done that which all men may do, 
and which every man ought to do, who rebukes his superiors 
for not doing it. His claims, too, it should be remembered, 
to these every-day qualities, are by no means enforced with 
gentleness and humility. He is a braggadocio of minuteness— 
a swaggering chronologer ;—a man bristling up with small 
facts—prurient with dates—wantoning in obsolete evidence— 
loftily dull, and haughty in his drudgery;—and yet all this is 
pretence. Drawing is no very unusual power in animals; 


CHARLES FOX. 235 


but he cannot draw ;—he is not even the ox which he is so 
fond of being. In attempting to vilify Mr. Fox, he has only 
shown us that there was no labour from which that great man 
shrunk, and that no object connected with his history was too 
minute for his investigation. He has thoroughly convinced 
us that Mr. Fox was as industrious, and as accurate, as if 
these were the only qualities upon which he had ever rested 
his hope of fortune or of fame. Such, indeed, are the cus- 
tomary results when little people sit down to debase the cha- 
racters of great men, and to exalt themselves upon the ruins 
of what they have pulled down. ‘They only provoke a spirit 
of inquiry, which places every thing in its true light and mag- 
nitude,—shows those who appear little to be still less, and 
displays new and unexpected excellence in others who were 
before known to excel. ‘These are the usual consequences of 
such attacks. The fame of Mr. Fox has stood this, and will 
stand much ruder shocks. 
Non hiemes illam, non flabra neque imbres 


Convellunt ; immota manet, multosque per annos 
Multa virtm volvens durando sxcula vincit. 


236 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


MAD QUAKERS. (Enrneurcu Review, 1814.) 


Description of the Retreat, an Institution near York, for Insane Persons 
of the Society of Friends. Containing an Account of its Origin and 
Progress, the Modes of Treatment, and a Statement of Cases. By 
Samuel Tuke. York, 1813. 


‘THE Quakers always seem to succeed in any institution which 
they undertake. ‘The gaol at Philadelphia will remain a last- 
ing monument of their skill and patience; and, in the plan 
and conduct of this retreat for the insane, they have evinced 
the same wisdom and perseverance. 

The present account is given us by Mr. Tuke, a respect- 
able tea-dealer, living in York,—and given in a manner which 
we are quite sure the most opulent and important of his cus- 
tomers could notexcel. ‘The long account of the subscription, 
at the beginning of the book, is evidently made tedious for the 
Quaker market; and Mr. Tuke is a little too much addicted 
to quoting. But, with these trifling exceptions, his book 
does him very great credit ;—it is full of good sense and hu- 
manity, right feelings and rational views. ‘The retreat for in- 
sane Quakers is situated about a mile from the city of York, 
upon an eminence commanding the adjacent country, and in the 
midst of a garden and fields belonging to the institution. ‘The 
great principle on which it appears to be conducted is that of 
kindness to the patients. It does not appear to them, because 
aman is mad upon one particular subject, that he is to be 
considered in a state of complete mental degradation, or insen- 
sible to the feelings of kindness and gratitude. When a mad- 
man does not do what he is bid to do, the shortest method, to 
be sure, is to knock him down; and straps and chains are the 
species of prohibition which are the least frequently disre- 
garded. But the Society of Friends seem rather to consult 
the interest of the patient than the ease of his keeper; and to 
aim at the government of the insane, by creating in them the 
kindest disposition towards those who have the command over 
them. Nor can any thing be more wise, humane, or interest- 


MAD QUAKERS. 237 


ing, than the strict attention to the feelings of their patients 
which seems to prevail in their institutions. The following 
specimens of their disposition upon this point we have great 
pleasure in laying before our readers :— 


‘The smallness of the court, says Mr. Tuke, ‘would be a serious 
defect, if it was not generally compensated by taking such patients as 
are suitable into the garden; and by frequent excursions into the city, 
or the surrounding country, and into the fields of the institution. One 
of these is surrounded by a walk interspersed with trees and shrubs. 

‘The superintendent has also endeavoured to furnish a source of 
amuse ment to those patients whose walks are necessarily more cir- 
cumscribed, by supplying each of the courts with a number of ani- 
mals, such as rabbits, sea gulls, hawks, and poultry. These creatures 
are generally very familiar with the patients; and it is believed they 
are not only the means of innocent pleasure, but that the intercourse 
with them sometimes tends to awaken the social and benevolent feel- 
ings.’ —(p. 95, 96.) 


Chains are never permitted at the Retreat; nor is it left to 
the option of the lower attendants when they are to impose 
an additional degree of restraint upon the patients; and this 
compels them to pay attention to the feelings of the patients, 
and to attempt to gain an influence over them by kindness. 
Patients who are not disposed to injure themselves are merely 
confined by the strait waistcoat, and left to walk about the room, 
or lie down on the bed, at pleasure; and even in those cases 
where there is a strong tendency to self-destruction, as much 
attention is paid to the feelings and ease of the patient as is 
consistent with his safety. 


‘Except in cases of violent mania, which is far from being a fre- 

quent occurrence at the Retreat, coercion, when requisite, is con- 
sidered as a necessary evil; that is, itis thought abstractedly to have 
a tendency to retard the cure, by opposing the influence of the moral 
remedies employed. It is therefore used very sparingly; and the 
superintendent has often assured me, that he would rather run some 
risk than have recourse to restraint where it was not absolutely 
necessary, except in those cases where it was likely to have a salutary 
moral tendency. 
' ‘IT feel no small satisfaction in stating, upon the authority of the 
superintendents, that during the last year, in which the number of 
patients has generally been sixty-four, there has not been occasion to 
seclude, on an average, two patients at one time. I am also able to 
state, that although it is occasionally necessary to restrain, by the 
waistcoat, straps, or other means, several patients at one time, yet 
that the average number so restrained does not exceed four, includ- 
ing those who are secluded. 


238 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘The safety of those who attend upon the insane is certainly an 
object of great importance; but it is worthy of inquiry whether it 
may not be attained without materially interfering with another object, 
—the recovery of the patient. It may also deserve inquiry, whether 
the extensive practice of coercion, which obtains in some institutions, 
does not arise from erroneous views of the character of insane 
persons; from indifference to their comfort; or from having rendered 
coercion necessary by previous unkind treatment. 

‘The power of judicious kindness over this unhappy class of society 
is much greater than is generally imagined. It is, perhaps, not too 
much to apply to kind treatment the words of our great poet,— 


“She can unlock 
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell.” —Muzutron. 


‘In no instances has this power been more strikingly displayed, or 
exerted with more beneficial effects, than in those deplorable cases in 
which the patient refuses to take food. The kind persuasions and 
ingenious arts of the superintendents have been singularly successful 
in Overcoming this distressing symptom; and very few instances now 
occur in which it is necessary to employ violent means for supplying 
the patient with food. 

‘Some patients, who refuse to partake of the family meals, are in- 
duced to eat by being taken into the larder, and there allowed to help 
themselves. Some are found willing to eat when food is left with 
them in their rooms, or when they can obtain it unobserved by their 
attendants. Others, whose determination is stronger, are frequently 
induced, by repeated persuasion, to take a small quantity of nutritious 
liquid; and it is equally true in these, as in general cases, that every 
breach of resolution weakens the power and disposition to resistance. 

‘Sometimes, however, persuasion seems to strengthen the unhappy 
determination. In one of these cases the attendants were completely 
wearied with their endeavours; and, on removing the food, one of 
them took a piece of the meat which had been repeatedly offered to 
the patient, and threw it under the fire-grate, at the same time exclaim- 
ing that she should not have it. The poor creature, who seemed 
governed by the rule of contraries, immediately rushed from her seat, 
seized the meat from the ashes, and devoured it. For a short time 
she was induced to eat, by the attendants availing themselves of this 
contrary disposition; but it was soon rendered unnecessary by the 
removal of this unhappy feature of the disorder.’—(p. 166, 167, 168, 
169.) 


When it is deemed necessary to apply any mode of coer- 
cion, such an overpowering force is employed as precludes all 
possibility of successful resistance ; and most commonly, there- 
fore, extinguishes every idea of making any atall. An attend- 
ant upon a madhouse exposes himself to some risk—and to 
some he ought to expose himself, or he is totally unfit for his 
situation. If the security of the attendants were the only 


MAD QUAKERS. 239 


object, the situation of the patients would soon become truly 
desperate. ‘The business is, not to risk nothing, but not to 
risk too much. ‘The generosity of the Quakers, and their 
courage in managing mad people, are placed, by this institu- 
tion, in a very striking point of view. This cannot be better 
illustrated than by the two following cases :— 


‘The superintendent was one day walking in a field adjacent to the 
house, in company with a patient who was apt to be vindictive on 
very slight occasions. An exciting circumstance occurred. The 
maniac retired a few paces, and seized a large stone, which he imme- 
diately held up, as in the act of throwing at his companion. The 
superintendent, in no degree ruffled, fixed his eye upon the patient, 
and in a resolute tone of voice, at the same time advancing, com- 
manded him to lay down the stone. As he approached, the hand of 
the lunatic gradually sunk from its threatening position, and permitted 
the stone to drop to the ground. He then submitted to be quietly led 
to his apartment.’ 

‘Some years ago, a man, about thirty-four years of age, of almost 
herculean size and figure, was brought to the house. He had been 
afflicted several times before; and so constantly, during the present 
attack, had he been kept chained, that his clothes were contrived to 
be taken off and put on by means of strings, without removing his 
manacles. They were, however, taken off when he entered the Re- 
treat, and he was ushered into the apartment where the superintend- 
ents were supping. He was calm: his attention appeared to be arrested 
by his new situation. He was desired to join in the repast, during 
which he behaved with tolerable propriety. After it was concluded 
the superintendent conducted him to his apartment, and told him the 
circumstances on which his treatment would depend; that it was his 
anxious wish to make every inhabitant in the house as comfortable 
‘as possible; and that he sincerely hoped the patient’s conduct would 
render it unnecessary for him to have recourse to coercion. The 
maniac was sensible of the kindness of his treatment. He promised 
to restrain himself; and he so completely succeeded, that, during his 
stay, no coercive means were ever employed towards him. This case 
affords a striking example of the efficacy of mild treatment. The pa- 
tient was frequently very vociferous, and threatened his attendants, 
who, in their defence, were very desirous of restraining him by the 
jacket. The superintendent on these occasions went to his apart- 
ment: and though the first sight of him seemed rather to increase the 
patient’s irritation, yet, after sitting some time quietly beside him, the 
violent excitement subsided, and he would listen with attention to the 
persuasions and arguments of his friendly visitor. After such con- 
versations the patient was generally better for some days or a week; 
and in about four months he was discharged perfectly recovered. 

‘Can it be doubted that, in this case, the disease had been greatly 
exasperated by the mode of management? or that the subsequent kind 
treatment had a great tendency to promote his recovery ?’—(p. 172, 
173, 146, 147.) 


240 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


And yet, in spite of this apparent contempt of danger, for 
eighteen years not a single accident has happened to the 
keepers. 

In the day room the sashes are made of cast-iron, and give 
to the building the security of bars, without their unpleasant 
appearance. With the same laudable attention to the feelings 
of these poor people, the straps of their strait waistcoats are 
made of some showy colour, and are not infrequently con- 
sidered by them as ornaments. No advantage whatever has 
been found to arise from reasoning with patients on their par- 
ticular delusions: it is found rather to exasperate than convince 
them. Indeed, that state of mind would hardly deserve the 
name of insanity where argument was sufficient for the refu- 
tation of error. 

The classification of patients according to their degree of 
convalescence is very properly attended to at the Retreat, and 
every assistance given to returning reason by the force of 
example. We were particularly pleased with the following 
specimens of Quaker sense and humanity :— 


‘The female superintendent, who possesses an uncommon share 
of benevolent activity, and who has the chief management of the 
female patients, as well as of the domestic department, occasionally 
gives a general invitation to the patients to a tea-party. All who 
attend dress in their best clothes, and vie with each other in politeness 
and propriety. The best fare is provided, and the visitors are treated 
with all the attention of strangers. The evening generally passes in 
the greatest harmony and enjoyment. It rarely happens that any 
unpleasant circumstance occurs. The patients control, in a wonder- 
ful degree, their different propensities; and the scene is at once curious 
and affectingly gratifying. 

‘Some of the patients occasionally pay visits to their friends in the 
city; and female visitors are appointed every month by the committee 
to pay visits to those of their own sex, to converse with them, and to 
propose to the superintendents, or the committee, any improvements 
which may occur to them. The visitors sometimes take tea with the 
patients, who are much gratified with the attention of their friends, 
and mostly behave with propriety. 

‘It will be necessary here to mention that the visits of former inti- 
mate friends have frequently been attended with disadvantage to the 
patients, except when convalescence had so far advanced as to afford 
a prospect of a speedy return to the bosom of society. Itis, however, 
very certain that, as soon as reason begins to return, the conversation 
of judicious indifferent persons greatly increases the comfort, and is 
considered almost essential to the recovery of many patients. On 
this account the convalescents of every class are frequently intro- 
duced into the society of the rational parts of the family. ‘They are 


MAD QUAKERS. 241 


also permitted to sit up till the usual time for the family to retire to 
rest, and are allowed as much liberty as their state of mind will ad- 
mit.’ —(p. 178, 179.) 


To the effects of kindness in the Retreat are superadded 
those of constant employment. ‘The female patients are em- 
ployed as much as possible in sewing, knitting, and domestic 
affairs ; and several of the convalescents assist the attendants. 
For the men are selected those species of bodily employ- 
ments most agreeable to the patient, and most opposite to the 
illusions of his disease. ‘Though the effect of fear is not 
excluded from the institution, yet the love of esteem is con- 
sidered as a still more powerful principle. 


‘That fear is not the only motive which operates in producing se/f- 
restraint in the minds of maniacs is evident from its being often exer- 
cised in the presence of strangers who are merely passing through the 
house; and which, I presume, can only be accounted for from that 
desire of esteem which has been stated to be a powerful motive to 
conduct. 

‘It is, probably, from encouraging the action of this principle, that 
so much advantage has been found, in this institution, from treating 
the patient as much in the manner of a rational being as the State of 
his mind will possibly allow. The superintendent is particularly 
attentive to this point in his conversation with the patients. He 
introduces such topics as he knows will most interest them; and 
which, at the same time, allows them to display their knowledge to the 
greatest advantage. If the patient is an agriculturist, he asks him 
questions relative to his art; and frequently consults him upon any 
occasion in which his knowledge may be useful. I have heard one 
of the worst patients in the house, who, previously to his indisposition, 
had been a considerable grazier, give very sensible directions for the 
treatment of a diseased cow. 

‘These considerations are undoubtedly very material as they regard 
the comfort of insane persons; but they are of far greater importance 
as they relate to the cure of the disorder. The patient, feeling him- 
self of some consequence, is induced to support it by the exertion of 
his reason, and by restraining those dispositions which, if indulged, 
would lessen the respectful treatment he receives, or lower his cha- 
racter in the eyes of his companions and attendants. 

‘They who are unacquainted with the character of insane persons 
are very apt to converse with them in a childish, or, which is worse, 
in a domineering manner; and hence it has been frequently remarked, 
by the patients at the Retreat, that a stranger who has visited them 
seemed to imagine they were children. 

‘The natural tendency of such treatment is to degrade the mind of 
the patient, and to make him indifferent to those moral feelings which, 
under judicious direction and encouragement, are found capable, in no 
small degree, to strengthen the power of self-restraint, and which ren- 


242 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


der the resort to coercion in many cases unnecessary. Even when 
it is absolutely requisite to employ coercion, if the patient promises to 
control himself on its removal, great confidence is generally placed 
upon his word. I have known patients, such is their sense of honour 
and moral obligation under this kind of engagement, hold, for a long 
time, a successful struggle with the violent propensities of their dis- 
order; and such attempts ought to be sedulously encouraged by the 
attendant. 

‘Hitherto, we have chiefly considered those modes of inducing the 
patient to control his disordered propensities which arise from an ap- 
plication to the general powers of the mind; but considerable advan- 
tage may certainly be derived, in this part of moral management, from 
an acquaintance with the previous habits, manners, and prejudices of 
theindividual. Nor must we forget to call to our aid, in endeavouring 
to promote self-restraint, the mild but powerful influence of the pre- 
cepts of our holy religion. Where these have been strongly imbued 
in early life, they become little less than principles of our nature: and 
their restraining power is frequently felt, even under the delirious ex- 
citement of insanity. To encourage the influence of religious princi- 
ples over the mind of the insane is considered of great consequence 
as ameansofcure. For this purpose, as well as for others still more 
important, it is certainly right to promote in the patient an attention 
to his accustomed modes of paying homage to his Maker. 

‘Many patients attend the religious meetings of the society held in 
the city; and most of them are assembled, on a first day afternoon, at 
which time the superintendent reads to them several chapters in the 
Bible. A profound silence generally ensues; during which, as well 
as at the time of reading, it is very gratifying to observe their orderly 
conduct, and the degree in which those who are much disposed to ac- 
tion restrain their different propensities. —(p. 158—161.) 


Very little dependence is to be placed on medicine alone 
for the cure of insanity. ‘The experience, at least, of this 
well-governed institution is very unfavourable to its efficacy. 
Where an insane person happens to be diseased in body as 
well as mind, medicine is not only of as great importance to 
him as to any other person, but much greater; for the diseases 
of the body are commonly found to aggravate those of the 
mind; but against mere insanity, unaccompanied by bodily 
derangement, it appears to be almost powerless. 

There is one remedy, however, which is very frequently 
employed at the Retreat, and which appears to have been 
attended with the happiest effect, and that is the warm bath,— 
the least recommended, and the most important, of all reme- 
dies in melancholy madness. Under this mode of treatment, 
the number of recoveries, in cases of melancholia, has been 


MAD QUAKERS. 243 


very unusual; though no advantage has been found from it in 
the case of mania. 

At the end of the work is given a table of all the cases 
which have occurred in the institution from its first commence- 
ment. It appears that, from its opening in the year 1796 to 
the end of 1811, 149 patients have been admitted. Of this 
number 61 have been recent cases: 31 of these patients have 
been maniacal; of whom 2 have died, 6 remain, 21 have been 
discharged perfectly recovered, 2 so much improved as not to 
require further confinement. ‘The remainder, 30 recent cases, 
have been those of melancholy madness; of whom 5 have 
died, 4 remain, 19 have been discharged cured, and 2 so much 
improved as not to require further confinement. The old 
cases, or, as they are commonly termed, incurable cases, are 
divided into 61 cases of mania, 21 of melancholia, and 6 of 
dementia; affording the following tables :— 


‘ Mania. 
‘11 died. 
31 remain in the house. 
5 have been removed by their friends improved. 
10 have been discharged perfectly recovered. 
4 so much improved as not to require further confinement.’ 


‘ Melancholia. 


‘6 died. 
6 remain. 
1 removed somewhat improved. 
6 perfectly cured. 
2 so much improved as not to require further confinement.’ 


‘ Dementia. 
‘2 died. 
2 remain. 
2 discharged as unsuitable objects.’ 
The following statement shows the ages of patients at pre- 
sent in the house :— 


‘15 to 20 inclusive 2 


20to30 — 8 
30to40 — 12 
40to50 — 7 
60to 70 — 11 
70to80 — 4 
80to90 — 2° 


244 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Of 79 patients it appears that 


‘12 went mad from disappointed affections. 

2 from epilepsy. 
49 from constitutional causes. 

8 from failure in business. 
4 from hereditary disposition to madness. 
2 from injury of the skull. 
1 from mercury. 
1 from parturition.’ 


The following case is extremely curious; and we wish it 
had been authenticated by name, place, and signature. 


-¢A young woman, who was employed as a domestic servant by the 
father of the relater, when he was a boy, became insane, and at length 
sunk into a state of perfect idiocy. In this condition she remained 
for many years, when she was attacked by a typhus fever; and my 
friend, having then practised some time, attended her. He was sur- 
prised to observe, as the fever advanced, a development of the mental 
powers. During that period of the fever, when others were delirious, 
this patient was entirely rational. She recognized in the face of her 
medical attendant the son of her old master, whom she had known 
so many years before; and she related many circumstances respect- 
ing his family, and others which had happened to herself in her 
earlier days. But, alas! it was only the gleam of reason. As the 
fever abated, clouds again enveloped the mind: she sunk into her 
former deplorable state, and remained in it until her death, which 
happened a few years afterwards. I leave to the metaphysical reader 
further speculation on this, certainly, very curious case.’—(p. 137.) 


Upon the whole, we have little doubt that this is the best 
managed asylum for the insane that has ever yet been estab- 
lished; and a part of the explanation no doubt is, that the 
Quakers take more pains than other people with their mad- 
men. A mad Quaker belongs to a small and rich sect; and 
is, therefore, of greater importance than any other mad person 
of the same degree in life. After every allowance, however, 
which can be made for the feelings of sectaries, exercised to- 
wards their own disciples, the Quakers, it must be allowed, 
are a very charitable and humane people. ‘They are always 
ready with their money, and, what is of far more importance, 
with their time and attention, for every variety of human mis- 
fortune. 

They seem to set themselves down systematically before 
the difficulty, with the wise conviction that it is to be lessened 
or subdued only by great labour and thought; and that it is 
always increased by indolence and neglect. In this instance, 


MAD QUAKERS. 245 


they have set an example of courage, patience, and kindness, 
which cannot be too highly commended, or too widely dif- 
fused ; and which, we are convinced, will gradually bring into 
repute a milder and better method of treating the insane. For 
the aversion to inspect places of this sort is so great, and the 
temptation to neglect and oppress the insane so strong, both 
from the love of power, and the improbability of detection, that 
we have no doubt of the existence of great abuses in the inte- 
rior of many madhouses. A great deal has been done for 
prisons; but the order of benevolence has been broken through 
by this preference; for the voice of misery may sooner come 
up from a dungeon, than the oppression of a madman be healed 
by the hand of justice.* 


* The Society of Friends have been extremely fortunate in the 
choice of their male and female superintendents at the asylum, Mr. 
and Mrs. Jephson. It is not easy to find a greater combination of 
good sense and good feeling than these two persons possess :—but 
then the merit of selecting them rests with their employers. 


246 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


AMERICA. (Eprnsurcu Review, 1818.) 


1. Travels in Canada and the United States, in 1816 and 1817. By 
Lieutenant Francis Hall, 14th Light Dragoons, H. P. London. 
Longman & Co. 1818. 


2. Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in 
Lower Canada, performed in the year 1817, &c. Sc. By John Palmer. 
London. Sherwood, Neely & Jones. 1818. 


3. A Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles through the Eastern 
and Western States of America; contained in Eight Reports, addressed 
to the Thirty-nine English Families by whom the Author was deputed, 
in June, 1817, to ascertain whether any and what Part of the United 
States would be suitable for their Residence. With Remarks on Mr. 
Birkbeck’s ‘Notes’ and ‘Letters.’ By Henry Bradshaw Fearon. Lon- 
don. Longman & Co. 1818. 


4, Travels in the Interior of America, in the Years 1809, 1810,and 1811, 
gc. By John Bradbury, F.L.S. Lond. 8vo. London. Sherwood, 
Neely & Jones. 1817. 


Tuesk four books are all very well worth reading, to any per- 
son who feels, as we do, the importance and interest of the 
subject of which they treat. ‘They contain a great deal of in- 
formation and amusement; and will probably decide the fate, 
and direct the footsteps, of many human beings, seeking a 
better lot than the Old World can afford them. Mr. Hall is 
a clever, lively man, very much above the common race of 
writers ; with very liberal and reasonable opinions, which he 
expresses with great boldness,—-and an inexhaustible fund 
of good humour. He has the elements of wit in him; but 
sometimes is trite and flat when he means to be amusing. He 
writes verses, too, and is occasionally long and metaphysical: 
but, upon the whole, we think highly of Mr. Hall; and deem 
him, if he is not more than twenty-five years of age, an extra- 
ordinary young man. He is not the less extraordinary for 
being a lieutenant of Light Dragoons—as it is certainly some- 


AMERICA. 247 


what rare to meet with an original thinker, an indulgent judge 
of manners, and a man tolerant of neglect and familiarity, in a 
youth covered with tags, feathers, and martial foolery. 

Mr. Palmer is a plain man, of good sense and slow judg- 
ment. Mr. Bradbury is a botanist, who lived a good deal 
among the savages, but worth attending to. Mr. Fearon is a 
much abler writer than either of the two last, but no lover of 
America,——and a little given to exaggeration in his views of 
vices and prejudices. 

Among other faults with which our government is charge- 
able, the vice of zmpertinence has lately crept into our cabi- 
net; and the Americans have been treated with ridicule and 
contempt. But they are becoming a little too powerful, we 
take it, for this cavalier sort of management; and are increas- 
ing with a rapidity which is really no matter of jocularity to 
us, or the other powers of the Old World. In 1791, Balti- 
more contained 13,000 inhabitants; in 1810, 46,000; in 1817, 
60,000. In 1790, it possessed 13,000 tons of shipping; in 
1798, 59,000; in 1805, 72,000; in 1810, 103,444. The 
progress of Philadelphia is as follows :— 


Houses. Inhabitants. 

‘In 1683 there were in the city - 80 and 600 
1700 - - - - 700 5,000 
1749 - - - - 2,076 15,000 
1760 - - - - 2,969 20,000 
1769 7 S - = 4,474 30,000 
1776 . - - - 5,460 40,000 
1783 - - 6,900 42,000 
1806 - - - - 13,000 90,000 
1810 - - - - 22,769 100,000 


‘Now it is computed there are at least 120,000 inhabitants in the 
city and suburbs, of which 10,000 are free coloured people.’— Palmer, 
p. 254, 255. 


The population of New York (the city), in 1805, was 
60,000; it is now 120,000. ‘Their shipping, at present, 
amounts to 300,000 tons. The population of the state of 
New York was, at the accession of his present majesty, 
97,000, and is now nearly 1,000,000. Kentucky, first settled 
in 1773, had, in 1792, a population of 100,000; and in 1810, 
406,000. Morse reckons the whole population of the western 
territory, in 1790, at 6,000; in 1810 it was near half a mil- 
lion; and will probably exceed a million in 1820. These, 


248 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


and a thousand other equally strong proofs of their increasing 
strength, tend to extinguish pleasantry, and provoke thought. 

We were surprised and pleased to find from these accounts 
that the Americans on the Red River and the Arkansas River 
have begun to make sugar and wine. ‘Their importation of 
wool into this country is becoming also an object of some 
consequence; and they have inexhaustible supplies of salt 
and coal. But one of the great sources of wealth in America 
is and will be an astonishing command of inland navigation. 
The Mississippi, flowing from the north to the Gulf of Mexico, 
through seventeen degrees of latitude; the Ohio and the Alle- 
ghany almost connecting it with the Northern Lakes; the 
Wabash, the Illinois, the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Red 
River, flowing from the confines of New Mexico ;—-these 
rivers, all navigable, and most of them already frequented by 
steamboats, constitute a facility of internal eommunication not, 
we believe, to be paralleled in the whole world. 

One of the great advantages of the American government is 
its cheapness. ‘The American king has about 5000/. per an- 
num, the vice-king 1000/. ‘They hire their Lord Liverpool 
at about a thousand per annum, and their Lord Sidmouth (a 
good bargain) at the same sum. ‘Their Mr. Crokers are in- 
expressibly reasonable,—somewhere about the price of an 
English doorkeeper, or bearer of a mace. Life, however, 
seems to go on very well, in spite of these low salaries; and 
the purposes of government to be very fairly answered. 
Whatever may be the evils of universal suffrage in other 
countries, they have not yet been felt in America; and one 
thing at least is established by her experience, that this insti- 
tution is not necessarily followed by those tumults, the dread 
of which excites so much apprehension in this country. In 
the most democratic states, where the payment of direct taxes 
is the only qualification of a voter, the elections are carried on 
with the utmost tranquillity; and the whole business, by 
taking votes in each parish or section, concluded all over the 
state in a single day. A great deal is said by Fearon about 
Caucus, the cant word of the Americans for the committees 
and party meetings in which the business of the elections is 
prepared—the influence of which he seems to consider as pre- 
judicial. ‘To us, however, it appears to be nothing more than 
the natural, fair and unavoidable influence which talent, popu- 
larity and activity always must have upon such occasions. 


AMERICA. 249 


What other influence can the leading characters of the demo- 
cratic party in Congress possibly possess? Bribery is en- 
tirely out of the question——equally so is the influence of 
family and fortune. What then can they do, with their cau- 
cus or without it, but recommend? And what charge is it 
against the American government to say that those members 
of whom the people have the highest opinion meet together 
to consult whom they shall recommend for president, and that 
their recommendation is successful in their different states? 
Could any friend to good order wish other means to be em- 
ployed, or other results to follow? No statesman can wish to 
exclude influence, but only bad influence ;——not the influence 
of sense and character, but the influence of money and punch. 

A very disgusting feature in the character of the present 
English government is its extreme timidity, and the cruelty 
and violence to which its timidity gives birth. Some hot- 
headed young person, in defending the principles of liberty, 
and attacking those abuses to which all governments are liable, 
passes the bounds of reason and moderation, or is thought to 
have passed them by those whose interest it is to think so. 
What matters it whether he has or not? You are strong 
enough to let him alone. With such institutions as ours he 
can do no mischief; perhaps he may owe his celebrity to 
your opposition; or, if he must be opposed, write against 
him,—set Candidus, Scrutator, Vindex, or any of the con- 
ductitious penmen of government to write him down;—any 
thing but the savage spectacle of a poor wretch, perhaps a very 
honest man, contending in vain against the weight of an im- 
mense government, pursued by a zealous attorney, and sen- 
tenced, by some candidate, perhaps, for the favour of the 
crown, to the long miseries of the dungeon.* A still- more 


* A great deal is said about the independence and integrity of 
English judges. In causes between individuals they are strictly 
independent and upright: but they have strong temptations to be 
otherwise, in cases where the crown prosecutes for libel. Such 
cases often involve questions of party, and are viewed with great 
passion and agitation by the minister and his friends. Judges have 
often favours to ask for their friends and families, and dignities to 
aspire to for themselves. It is human nature, that such powerful 
motives should create a. great bias against the prisoner. Suppose 
the chief justice of any court to be in an infirm state of health, anda 
government libel-cause to be tried by one of the puisne judges,—of 
what immense importance is it to that man to be called a strong 

VOL. I.—17 


250 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


flagrant instance may be found in our late suspensions of the 
habeas corpus act. Nothing was trusted to the voluntary 
activity of a brave people, thoroughly attached to their govern- 
ment—nothing to the good sense and prudence of the gentle- 
men and yeomen of the country—nothing to alittle forbearance, 
patience, and watchfulness. ‘There was no other security but 
despotism ; nothing but the alienation of that right which no 
king nor minister can love, and which no human beings but 
the English have had the valour to win, and the prudence to 
keep. ‘The contrast between our government and that of the 
Americans, upon the subject of suspending the‘habeas corpus, 
is drawn in so very able amanner by Mr. Hall, that we must 
give the passage at large. 


‘It has ever been the policy of the federalists to “strengthen the 
hands of government.” No measure can be imagined more effectual 
for this purpose, than a law which gifts the ruling powers with infalli- 
bility; but no sooner was it enacted, than it revealed its hostility to 
the principles of the American system, by generating oppression ° 
under the cloak of defending social order. 

‘If there ever was a period when circumstances seemed to justify 
what are called energetic measures, it was during the administrations 
of Mr. Jefferson and his successor.. A disastrous war began to rage, 
not only on the frontiers, but in the very penetralia of the republic. 
To oppose veteran troops, the ablest generals, and the largest fleets 
in the world, the American government had raw recruits, officers who 
had never seen an enemy, half a dozen frigates, and a population 
unaccustomed to sacrifices, and impatient of taxation. To crown 
these disadvantages, a most important section of the Union, the New 
England states, openly set up the standard of separation and rebellion. 
A convention sat for the express purpose of thwarting the measures 
of government; while the press and pulpit thundered every species 
of denunciation against whoever should assist their own country in 
the hour of danger.* And this was the work, not of jacobins and 


friend to government—how injurious to his natural and fair hopes to 
be called lukewarm, or addicted to popular notions—and how easily 
the runners of the government would attach such a character to him! 
The useful inference from these observations is, that, in all govern- 
ment cases, the jury, instead of being influenced by the cant phrases 
about the integrity of English judges, should suspect the operation of 
such motives—watch the judge with the most acute jealousy—and 
compel him to be honest, by throwing themselves into the opposite 
scale whenever he is inclined to be otherwise. 

* ‘In Boston, associations were entered into for the purpose of 
preventing the filling up of government loans. Individuals disposed 
to subscribe were obliged to do it in secret, and conceal their names, 
as if the action had been dishonest.’— Vide ‘Olive Branch,’ p. 307. 


AMERICA. 251 


democrats, but of the staunch friends of religion and social order, 
who had been so zealously attached to the government, while it was 
administered by their own party, that they suffered not the popular 
breath “to visit the president’s breech too roughly.” 

‘The course pursued, both by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison 
throughout this season of difficulty, merits the gratitude of their 
country, and the imitation of all governments pretending to be free. 

‘So far were they from demanding any extraordinary powers from 
Congress, that they did not even enforce, to their full extent, those 
with which they were by the constitution invested. The process of 
reasoning, on which they probably acted, may be thus stated. The 
majority of the nation is with us, because the war is national. The 
interests of a minority suffer; and self-interest is clamorous when 
injured. It carries its opposition to an extreme inconsistent with its 
political duty. Shall we leave it in an undisturbed career of faction, 
or seek to put it down with libel and sedition laws? In the first case 
it will grow bold from impunity; its proceedings will be more and 
more outrageous: but every step it takes to thwart us will be a step 
in favour of the enemy, and, consequently, so much ground lost in 
public opinion. But,as public opinion is the only instrument by which 
a minority can convert a majority to its views, impunity, by revealing 
its motives, affords the surest chance of defeating its intent. In the 
latter case, we quit the ground of reason to take that of force; we give 
the factious the advantage of seeming persecuted; by repressing 
intemperate discussion, we confess ourselves liable to be injured by 
it. If we seek to shield our reputation by a libel-law, we acknow- 
ledge, either that our conduct will not bear investigation, or that the 
people are incapable of distinguishing betwixt truth and falsehood: 
but for a popular government to impeach the sanctity of the nation’s 
judgment is to overthrow the pillars of its own elevation. 

‘The event triumphantly proved the correctness of this reasoning. 
The federalists awoke from the delirium of factious intoxication, 
and found themselves covered. with contempt and shame. Their 
country had been in danger, and they gloried in her distress. She 
had exposed herself to privations from which they had extracted 
profit. In her triumphs they had no part, except that of having 
mourned over and depreciated them. Since the war federalism has 
been scarcely heard of.’ —Hall, 508—511. 


The Americans, we believe, are the first persons who have 
discarded the tailor in the administration of justice, and his 
auxiliary the barber—two persons of endless importance in 


At the. same time, immense runs were made by the Boston banks 
on those of the Central and Southern states; while the specie thus 
drained was transmitted to Canada, in payment for smuggled goods 
and British government bills, which were drawn in Quebec, and 
disposed of in great numbers, on advantageous terms, to moneyed 
men in the states. Mr. Henry’s mission is the best proof of the result | 
pay os by our government from these proceedings in New Eng- 
and. 


252 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


codes and pandects of Europe. A judge administers justice, 
without a calorific wig and particoloured gown, in a coat and 
pantaloons. He is obeyed, however; and life and property 
are not badly protected in the United States. We shall be 
denounced by the laureate as atheists and jacobins; but we 
must say, that we have doubts whether one atom of useful 
influence is added to men in important situations by any colour, 
quantity, or configuration of cloth and hair. The true pro- 
gress of refinement, we conceive, is to discard all the mounte- 
bank drapery of barbarous ages. One row of gold and fur 
falls off after another from the robe of power, and is picked up 
and worn by the parish beadle and the exhibitor of wild beasts. 
Meantime, the afflicted wiseacre mourns over equality of 
garment; and wotteth not of two men, whose doublets have 
cost alike, how one shall command and the other obey. 

The dress of lawyers, however, is, at all events, of less 
importance than their charges. Law is cheap in America: in 
England, it is better, in a mere pecuniary point of view, to 
give up forty pounds than to contend for it in a court of com- 
mon law. It costs that sum in England to win a cause; and, 
in the court of equity, it is better to abandon five hundred or a 
thousand pounds than to contend for it. We mean to say 
nothing disrespectful of the chancellor—who is an upright. 
judge, a very great lawyer, and zealous to do all he can; but 
we believe the Court of Chancery to be in a state which impe- 
riously requires legislative correction. We do not accuse it 
of any malversation, but of a complication, formality, entangle- 
ment, and delay, which the life, the wealth, and the patience 
of man cannot endure. How such a subject comes not to 
have been taken up in the House of Commons, we are wholly 
at a loss to conceive. We feel for climbing boys as much as 
anybody can do; but what is a climbing boy in a chimney to 
a full-grown suitor in the Master’s office? And whence 
comes it, in the midst of ten thousand compassions and chari- 
ties, that no Wilberforce, or Sister Fry, has started up for the 
suitors in Chancery ?* and why, in the name of these afflicted 


* This is still one of the great uncorrected evils of the country. 
Nothing can be so utterly absurb as to leave the head of the Court of 
Chancery a political officer, and to subject forty millions of litigated 
property to all the delays and interruptions which are occasioned 
by his present multiplicity of offices. (1839.)—The Chancellor is 
Speaker of the House of Lords; he might as well be made Archbishop 
of Canterbury ;—it is one of the greatest of existing follies. 


AMERICA. 253 


and attorney-worn people, are there united in their judge three 
or four offices, any one of which is sufficient to occupy the 
whole time of a very able and active man? 

There are no very prominent men at present in America; 
at least none whose fame is strong enough for exportation. 
Monroe is a man of plain unaffected good sense. Jefferson, 
we believe, is still alive; and has always been more remark- 
able, perhaps, for the early share he took in the formation of 
the republic, than from any very predominant superiority of 
understanding. Mr. Hall made him a visit:— 


‘I slept a night at Monticello, and left it in the morning with such a 
feeling as the traveller quits the mouldering remains of a Grecian 
temple, or the pilgrim a fountain in the desert. It would indeed argue 
great torpor both of understanding and heart, to have looked without 
veneration and interest on the man who drew up the declaration of 
American independence; who shared in the councils by which her 
freedom was established; whom the unbought voice of his fellow- 
citizens called to the exercise of a dignity from which his own mode- 
ration impelled him, when such example was most salutary, to with- 
draw; and who, while he dedicates the evening of his glorious days 
to the pursuits of science and literature, shuns none of the humbler 
duties of private life; but, having filled a seat higher than that of 
kings, succeeds with graceful dignity to that of the good neighbour, 
and becomes the friendly adviser, lawyer, physician, and even gar- 
dener of his vicinity. This is the “still small voice” of philosophy, 
deeper and holier than the lightnings and earthquakes which have 
preceded it. What monarch would venture thus to exhibit himself 
in the nakedness of his humanity? On what royal brow would the 
laurel replace the diadem ?”)—AHall, 384, 385. 


Mr. Fearon dined with another of the Ex-Kings, Mr. 
Adams. 


‘The ex-president is a handsome old gentleman of eighty-four ;— 
his lady is seventy-six ;—she has the reputation of superior talents, 
and great literary acquirements. I was not perfectly a stranger here; 
as, a few days previous to this, I had received the honour of an hos- 
pitable reception at their mansion. Upon the present occasion the 
minister (the day being Sunday) was of the dinner party. As the 
table of a “late King” may amuse some of you, take the following 
particulars :—first course, a pudding made of Indian corn, molasses, 
and butter ;—second, veal, bacon, neck of mutton, potatoes, cabbages, 
-earrots, and Indian beans; Madeira wine, of which each drank two 
glasses. We sat down to dinner at one o’clock; at two, nearly all 
went'a second time to church. For tea, we had pound-cake, sweet 
bread and butter, and bread made of Indian corn and rye (similar to our 
brown home-made). Tea was brought from the kitchen, and handed 
round by a neat, white servant-girl. The topics of conversation were 


254 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


various.—England, America, religion, politics, literature, science, Dr. 
Priestley, Miss Edgeworth, Mrs. Siddons, Mr. Kean, France, Shaks- 
peare, Moore, Lord “Byron, Cobbett, American Revolution, the traitor 
General Arnold. 

‘The establishment of this political patriarch consists of a house 
two stories high, containing, I believe, eight rooms; of two men and 
three maid servants; three horses, and a plain carriage. How great 
is the contrast between this individual—a man of knowledge and 
information—without pomp, parade, or vicious and expensive estab- 
lishments, as compared with the costly trappings, the depraved cha- 
racters, and the profligate expenditure of house, and 
What a lesson in this does America teach! There are now in this 
land, no less than three Cincinnati!’—Fearon, 111—113.. 


The travellers agree, we think, in complaining of the in- 
subordination of American children—and do not much like 
American ladies. In their criticisms upon American gascon- 
ade, they forget that vulgar people of all countries are full of 
gasconade. ‘The Americans love titles.—The following ex- 
tract from the Boston Sentinel of last August (1817), is quoted 
by Mr. Fearon. 


«« Dinner to Mr. Adams.—Yesterday a public dinner was given to 
the Hon. John Q. Adams, in the Exchange Coffee-House, by his fel- 
low-citizens of Boston. The Hon. Wm. Gray presided, assisted by 
the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, George Blake, Esq., and the Hon. Jona- 
than Mason, vice-presidents. Of the guests were, the Hon. Mr. 
Adams, late president of the United States, his Excellency Governor 
Brooks, his Honor Lt. Gov. Phillips, Chief Justice Parker, Judge Story, 
President Kirkland, Gen. Dearborn, Com. Hull, Gen. Miller, several 
of the reverend clergy, and many public officers, and strangers of 


eminence.”’ 


They all, in common with Mr. Birkbeck, seem to be struck 
with the indolence of the American character. Mr. Fearon 
makes the charge; and gives us below the right explanation 


of its cause. 

‘The life of boarders at an American tavern presents the most 
senseless and comfortless mode of killing time which I have ever 
seen. Every house of this description that I have been in, is thronged 
to excess; and there is not a man who appears to have a single 
earthly object in view, except spitting, and smoking segars. I have 
not seen a book in the hands of any person since I left “Philadelphia, 
Objectionable as these habits are, they afford decided evidence of the 
prosperity of that country, which can admit so large a body of its 
citizens to waste in indolence three-fourths of their lives; and would 
also appear to hold out encouragement to Englishmen with English 
habits, who could retain their industry amid a nation of indolence, 
and have sufficient firmness to live in America, and yet bid defiance 
to the deadly example of its natives.’——-Iearon, p. 252, 253. 


Bo 








AMERICA. 255 


Yet this charge can hardly apply to the northeastern parts 
of the Union. 

The following sample of American vulgarity is not unen- 
teriaining. 


‘On arriving at the tavern door the landlord makes his appearance. 
—-Landlord. Your servant, gentlemen, this is a fine day. Answer. 
Very fine.—Land. You’ve got two nice creatures, they are right elegant 
matches. Ans. Yes, we bought them for matches.—Land. They cost 
a heap of dollars, (a pause, and knowing look); 200 I calewlate. Ans. 
Yes, they cost a good sum.—Land. Possible / (a pause); going west- 
ward to Ohio, gentlemen? Ans. We are going to Philadelphia.— 
Land. Philadelphia, ah! that’s a dreadful large place, three or four 
times as big as Lexington. Ans. Ten times as large.—Liand. Is it by 
George! what a mighty heap of houses, (a pause); but I reckon you 
was not reared in Philadelphia. Ans. Philadelphia is not our native . 
place—Land. Perhaps away up in Canada. Ans. No; we are from 
England.—Land. Is it possible! weil, I calculated you were from 
abroad, (pause); how long have you been from the oldcountry ? Ans. 
We left England last March.—ZLand. And in August here you are in 
Kentuck. Well,I should have guessed you had been in the state some 
years ; you speak almost as good English as we do! 

‘This dialogue is not a literal copy; but it embraces most of the 
frequent and improper applications of words used in the back country, 
with a few New England phrases. By the loghouse farmer and 
tavern keeper, they are used as often, and as erroneously, as they 
occur in the above discourse.’— Palmer, p. 129, 130. 


This is of course intended as a representation of the man- 
ners of the low, or, at best, the middling class of people in 
America. | 

The four travellers, of whose works we are giving an ac- 
count, made extensive tours in every part of America, as well 
in the old as in the new settlements ; and, generally speaking, 
we should say their testimony is in favour of American man- 
ners. We must except, perhaps, Mr. Fearon;—and yet he 
seems to have very little to say against them. Mr. Palmer 
tells us that he found his companions, officers and farmers, 
unobtrusive, civil, and obliging;—that what the servants do 
for you, they do with alacrity ;—that at their tables d’héte 
ladies are treated with great politeness. We have real plea- 
sure in making the following extract from Mr. Bradbury’s 
tour. 


‘In regard to the manners of the people west of the Alleghanies, 
it would be absurd to expect that a general character could be now 
formed, or that it will be, for many years yettocome. The population 
is at present compounded of a great number of nations, not yet amal- 


256 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


gamated, consisting of emigrants from every state in the Union, mixed 
with English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, Swiss, Germans, French, and 
almost from every country in Europe. In some traits they partake i in 
common with the inhabitants of the Atlantic states, which results from 
the nature of their government. That species of hauteur which one 
class of society in some countries shows in their intercourse with the 
other, is here utterly unknown. By their constitution, the existence 
of a privileged order, vested by birth with hereditary privileges, 
honours, or emoluments, is for ever interdicted. If, therefore, we 
should here expect to find that contemptuous feeling in man for man, 
we should naturally examine amongst those clothed with judicial or 
military authority; but we should search in vain. The justice on the 
bench, or the officer in the field, is respected and obeyed whilst dis- 
charging the functions of his office, as the representative or agent of 
the law, enacted for the good of all; but should he be tempted to treat 
even the least wealthy of his neighbours or fellow-citizens with con- 
tumely, he would soon find that he could not do it with impunity. 
Travellers from Europe, in passing through the western country, or 
indeed any part of the United States, ought to be previously acquainted 
with this part of the American character, and more particularly if they 
have been in the habit of treating with contempt, or irritating with 
abuse, those whom accidental circumstances may have placed ina 
situation to administer to their wants. Let no one here indulge him- 
self in abusing the waiter or ostler at an inn; that waiter or ostler is 
probably a citizen, and does not, nor cannot conceive, that a situation 
in which he dischar ges a duty to society, not in itself dishonourable, 
should subject him to insult: but this feeling, so far as I have expe- 
rienced, is entirely defensive. I have travelled near 10,000 miles in 
the United States, and never met with the least incivility or affront. 

‘The Americans, in general, are accused by travellers of being 
inquisitive. If this be a crime, the western people are guilty; but, for 
my part, I must say that it is a practice that I never was disposed to 
complain of, because I always found them as ready to answer a ques- 
tion as to ask one, and therefore I always came off a gainer by this 
kind of barter; and if any traveller does not, it is his own fault. As 
this leads me to notice their general conduct to strangers, I feel my- 
self bound, by gratitude and regard to truth, to speak of their hospi- 
tality. In my travels through the inhabited parts of the United States, 
not less than 2000 miles was through parts where there were no 
taverns, and where a traveller is under the necessity of appealing to 
the hospitality of the inhabitants. In no one instance has my appeal 
been fruitless; although, in many cases, the furnishing of a bed has 
been evidently attended with inconvenience, and in a great many 
instances no remuneration would be received. Other European tra- 
vellers have experienced this liberal spirit of hospitality, and some 
have repaid it by calumny.’—Bradbury, p. 304—306. 


We think it of so much importanée to do justice to other 
nations, and to lessen that hatred and contempt which race 
feels for race, that we subjoin two short passages from Mr. 
Hall to the same effect. 


AMERICA. 257 


‘I had bills on Philadelphia, and applied to a respectable store- 
keeper, that is, tradesman, of the village, to cash me one; the amount, 
however, was beyond any remittance he had occasion to make, but he 
immediately offered me whatever sum I might require for my journey, 
with no better security than my word, for its repayment at Philadel- 
phia: he even insisted on my taking more than I mentioned as suffi- 
cient. I do not believe this trait of liberality would surprise an Ame- 
rican; for no one in the states, to whom I mentioned it, seemed to 
consider it as more than any stranger of respectable appearance 
might have looked for, in similar circumstances: but it might well 
surprise an English traveller, who had been told, as I had, that the 
Americans never failed to cheat and insult every Englishman who 
travelled through their country, especially if they knew him to be an 
officer. This latter particular they never failed to inform themselves 
of, for they are by no means bashful in inquiries: but if the discovery 
operated in any way upon their behaviour, it was rather to my advan- 
tage; nor did I meet with a single instance of incivility betwixt 
Canada and Charleston, except at the Shenandoah Point, from a 
drunken English deserter. My testimony, in this particular, will cer- 
tainly not invalidate the complaints of many other travellers, who, I 
doubt not, have frequently encountered rude treatment, and quite as 
frequently deserved it; but it will at least prove the possibility of tra- 
versing the United States without insult or interruption, and even 
of being occasionally surprised by liberality and kindness. —Hall, 
p- 255, 256. 

‘I fell into very pleasant society at Washington. Strangers who 
intend staying some days in a town, usually take lodgings at a board- 
ing-house, in preference to a tavern: in this way they obtain the best 
society the place affords; for there are always gentlemen, and fre- 
quently ladies, either visitors or temporary residents, who live in this 
manner to avoid the trouble of housekeeping. At Washington, during 
the sittings of Congress, the boarding-houses are divided into messes, 
according to the political principles of the inmates, nor is a stranger 
admitted without some introduction, and the consent of the whole 
company. Ichanced to join a democratic mess, and name a few of 
its members with gratitude, for the pleasure their society gave me— 
Commodore Decatur and his lady, the Abbé Correa, the great botanist 
and plenipotentiary of Portugal, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secre- 
tary of the Navy Board, known as the author of a humorous publica- 
tion entitled “John Bull and Brother Jonathan,” with eight or ten 
members of Congress, principally from the western states, which are 
generally considered as most decidedly hostile to England, but whom 
I did not on this account find less good-humoured and courteous. It 
is from thus living in daily intercourse with the leading characters of 
the country, that one is enabled to judge with some degree of certainty 
of the practices of its government; for to know the paper theory is 
nothing, unless it be compared with the instruments employed to carry 
it into effect. A political constitution may be nothing but a cabalistic 
form, to extort money and power from the people; but then the jug- 
glers must be in the dark, and “no admittance behind the curtain.” 


258 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


This way of living affords too the best insight into the best part of 
society: for if in a free nation the depositaries of the public confidence 
be ignorant or vulgar, it is a very fruitless search to look for the oppo- 
site qualities in those they represent; whereas, if these be well- 
informed in mind and manners, it proves at the least an inclination 
towards knowledge and refinement in the general mass of citizens by 
whom they are selected. My own experience obliges me to a favour- 
able verdict in this particular. I found the little circle into which I 
had happily fallen full of good sense and good humour, and never 
quitted it without feeling myself a gainer, on the score either of useful 
information or of social enjoyment.’—Hall, p. 329—331. 


In page 252 Mr. Hall pays some very handsome compli- 
ments to the gallantry, high feeling, and humanity of the 
American troops. Such passages reflect the highest honour 
upon Mr. Hall. They are full of courage as well as kind- 
ness, and will never be forgiven at home. 

Literature the Americans have none—no native literature, 
we mean. It is all imported. ‘They had a Franklin, indeed; 
and may afford to live for half a century on his fame. There 
is, or was, a Mr. Dwight, who wrote some poems; and his 
baptismal name was Timothy. ‘There is also a small account 
of Virginia by Jefferson, and an epic by Joel Barlow; and 
some pieces of pleasantry by Mr. Irving. But why should the 
Americans write books, when a six weeks’ passage brings 
them, in their own tongue, our sense, science, and genius, in 
bales and hogsheads? Prairies, steam-boats, grist-mills, are 
their natural objects for centuries tocome. ‘Then, when they 
have got 1o the Pacific Ocean—epic poems, plays, pleasures 
of memory, and all the elegant gratifications of an ancient 
people who have tamed the wild earth, and set down to amuse 
themselves.—This is the natural march of human affairs. 

The Americans, at least in the old States, are a very religious 
people: but there is no sect there which enjoys the satisfaction 
of excluding others from civil offices ; nor does any denomina- 
tion of Christians take for their support a tenth of produce. 
Their clergy, however, are respectable, respected, and possess 
no small share of influence. ‘The places of worship in Phila- 
delphia in 1810, were as follows :—Presbyterian, 8; Episco- 
palian, 4; Methodists, 5; Catholic, 4; Baptist, 5; Quakers, 4; 
Fighting Quakers, 1; Lutheran, 3; Calvinist, 3; Jews, 2; 
Universalists, 1 ; Swedish Lutheran, 1; Moravian, 1 ; Congre- 
gationalists, 1; Unitarians, 1; Covenanters, 1; Black Bap- 
tists, 1; Black Episcopalians, 1; Black Methodists, 2. The 


& - 


AMERICA. 259 


Methodists, Mr. Palmer tells us, are becoming the most nu- 
merous sect in the United States. 

Mr. Fearon gives us this account of the state of religion at 
New York. 


‘Upon this interesting topic I would repeat, what indeed you are 
already acquainted with, that /egally there is the most unlimited liberty. 
There is no state religion, and no government prosecution of indivi- 
duals for conscience sake. Whether those halcyon days, which I 
think would attend a similar state of things in England, are in exist- 
ence here, must be left for future observation. There are five Dutch 
Reformed churches; six Presbyterian; three Associated Reformed 
ditto; one Associated Presbyterian; one Reformed ditto; five Metho- 
dist; two ditto for blacks; one German Reformed; one Evangelical 
Lutheran; one Moravian; four Trinitarian Baptist; one Universalist; 
two Catholic; three Quaker; eight Episcopalian; one Jews’ Syna- 
gogue; and to this I would add a small Meeting which is but little 
known, at which the priest is dispensed with, every member following 
what they call the apostolic plan of instructing each other, and “ build- 
ing one another up in their most holy faith.’ The Presbyterian and 
Episcopalian, or Church of England sects, take the precedence in 
numbers and in respectability. ‘Their ministers receive from two to 
eight thousand dollars per annum. All the churches are well filled: 
they are the fashionable places for display; and the sermons and talents 
of the minister offer never-ending subjects of interest when social con- 
verse has been exhausted upon the bad conduct and inferior ature 
of niggars (negroes); the price of flour at Liverpool; the capture of the 
Guerriére; and the battle of New Orleans. The perfect equality of all 
sects seems to have deadened party feeling: controversy is but little 
known.’—Fearon, p. 45, 46. 


The absence of controversy, Mr. Fearon seems to imagine, 
has produced indifference; and he heaves a sigh to the memory 
of departed oppression. ‘Can it be possible (he asks) that 
the non-existence of religious oppression has Jessened religious 
knowledge, and made men superstitiously dependent upon 
outward form, instead of internal purity?’ ‘To which ques- 
tion (a singular one from an enlightened man like Mr. Fearon), 
we answer, that the absence of religious oppression has not 
lessened religious knowledge, but theological animosity ; and 
made men more dependent upon pious actions, and less upon 
useless and unintelligible wrangling.* 


* Mr. Fearon mentions a religious lottery for building a Presbyterian 
church. What will Mr. Littleton say to this? he is hardly prepared, 
we suspect, for this union of Calvin and the Little Go. Every advan- 
tage will be made of it by the wit and eloquence of his fiscal opponent; 
—nor will it pass unheeded by Mr. Bish. 


260 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


The great curse of America is the institution of slavery— 
of itself far more than the foulest blot upon their national cha- 
racter, and an evil which counterbalances all the excisemen, 
licensers, and tax-gatherers of England. No virtuous man 
ought to trust his own character, or the character of his chil- 
dren, to the demoralizing effects produced by commanding 
slaves. Justice, gentleness, pity, and humility, soon give way 
before them. Conscience suspends its functions. The love 
of command—the impatience of restraint, get the better of every 
other feeling ; and cruelty has no other limit than fear. 


‘<'There must doubtless,” says Mr. Jefferson, “be an unhappy influ- 
ence on the manners of the people produced by the existence of slavery 
among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a per- 
petual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting 
despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. 
Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative 
animal. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments 
of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives 
loose to the worst of passions; and thus nursed, educated, and daily 
exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculi- 
arities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his morals and 
manners undepraved by such circumstances.” ’—Notes, p. 241.—Hall, 
p- 459. 


The following picture of a slave song is quoted by Mr. Hall 
from the * Letters on Virginia.” 


‘“T took the boat this morning, and crossed the ferry over to Ports- 
mouth, the small town which I told you is opposite to this place. It 
was court-day, and a large crowd of people was gathered about the 
door of the court-house. I had hardly got upon the steps to look in, 
when my ears were assailed by the voice of singing; and turning 
round to discover from what quarter it came, I saw a group of about 
thirty negroes, of different sizes and ages, following a rough-looking 
white man, who sat carelessly lolling in his sulky. They had just 
turned round the corner, and were coming up the main street to pass 
by the spot where I stood, on their way out of town. As they came 
nearer, 1 saw some of them loaded with chains to prevent their escape; 
while others had hold of each other’s hands, strongly grasped, as if 
to support themselves in their affliction. I particularly noticed a poor 
mother, with an infant sucking at her breast as she walked along, 
while two small children had hold of her apron on either side, almost 
running to keep up with the rest. They came along singing a little 
wild hymn, of sweet and mournful melody, flying, by a divine instinct 
of the heart, to the consolation of religion, the last refuge of the un- 
happy, to support them in their distress. The sulky now stopped be- 
fore the tavern, at a little distance beyond the court-house, and the 
driver got out. “My dear sir,” said I to a person who stood near me, 


AMERICA. 261 


“can you tell me what these poor people have been doing? What is 
their crime? and what is to be their punishment?” “O,” said he, 
“it’s nothing at all, but a parcel of negroes sold to Carolina; and that 
man is their driver, who has bought them.” “But what have they 
done, that they should be sold into banishment?” “Done,” said he, 
“ nothing at all, that I know of; their masters wanted money, I suppose, 
and these drivers give good prices.” Here the driver having supplied 
himself with brandy, and his horse with water (the poor negroes of 
course wanted nothing), stepped into his chair again, cracked his 
whip, and drove on, while the miserable exiles followed in funeral 
procession behind him.” ’—AHall, 358—360. 


The law by which slaves are governed in the Carolinas, is 
a provincial law as old as 1740, but made perpetual in 1'783. 
By this law it is enacted, that every negro shall be presumed 
a slave, unless the contrary appear. ‘The 9th clause allows 
two justices of the peace, and three freeholders, power to put 
them to any manner of death; the evidence against them may 
be without oath.—No slave is to traffic on his own account. 
—Any person murdering a slave is to pay 100/.—or 14/. if he 
cuts out the tongue of a slave.-—Any white man meeting seven 
slaves together on an high road, may give them twenty lashes 
each.—No man must teach a slave. to write, under penalty of 
100/. currency. We have Mr. Hall’s authority for the exist- 
ence and enforcement of this law at the present day. Mr. 
Fearon has recorded some facts still more instructive. 


‘Observing a great many coloured people, particularly females, in 
these boats, I concluded that- they were emigrants, who had proceeded 
thus far on their route towards a settlement. The fact proved to be, 
that fourteen of the flats were freighted with human beings for sale. 
They had been collected in the several states by slave dealers, and 
shipped from Kentucky for a market. They were dressed up to the 
best advantage, on the same principle that jockeys do horses upon 
sale. The following is a specimen of advertisements on this subject. 


“PWENTY DOLLARS REWARD 


“ Will be paid for apprehending and lodging in jail, or delivering to 
the subscriber, the following slaves, belonging to Joszrrn Irvin, of 
Iberville —TOM, a very light mulatto, blue eyes, 5 feet 10 inches high, 
appears to be about 35 years of age; an artful fellow—-can read and 
write, and preaches occasionally—CHARLOTTE, a black wench, 
round and full faced, tall, straight, and likely—about 25 years of age, 
and wife of the above named Tom.—These slaves decamped from their 
owner’s plantation on the night of the 14th September inst.” ’—Fearon, 
. 270. 
f ‘The three “African churches,” as they are called, are for all those 
native Americans who are black, or have any shade of.colour darker 


262 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


than white. These persons, though many of them are possessed of 
the rights of citizenship, are not admitted into the churches which are 
visited by whites. There exists a penal law, deeply written in the 
mind of the whole white population, which subjects their coloured fel- 
low-citizens to unconditional contumely and never-ceasing insult. No 
respectability, however unquestionable,—no property, however large, 
—-no character, however unblemished, will gain a man, whose body 
is (in American estimation) cursed with even a twentieth portion of 
the blood of his African ancestry, admission into society!!! They 
are considered as mere Pariahs——as outcasts and vagrants upon the 
face of the earth! I make no reflection upon these things, but leave 
the facts for your consideration.” ’—Jbid. p. 168, 169. 


That such feelings and such practices should exist among 
men who know the value of liberty, and profess to understand 
its principles, is the consummation of wickedness. Every 
American who loves his country, should dedicate his whole 
life, and every faculty of his soul, to efface this foul stain from 
its character. If nations rank according to their wisdom and 
their virtue, what right has the American, a scourger and mur- 
derer of slaves, to compare himself with the least and lowest 
of the European nations?—much more with this great and 
humane country, where the greatest lord dare not lay a finger 
upon the meanest peasant? What is freedom, where all are 
not free? where the greatest of God’s blessings is limited, with 
impious caprice, to the colour of the body? And these are 
the men who taunt the English with their corrupt Parliament, 
with their buying and selling votes. Let the world judge 
which is the most liable to censure—we who, in the midst of 
our rottenness, have torn off the manacles of slaves all over 
the world;—or they who, with their idle purity, and useless 
perfection, have remained mute and careless, while groans 
echoed and whips clanked round the very walls of their spot- 
less Congress. We wish well to America—we rejoice in her 
prosperity—and are delighted to resist the absurd impertinence 
with which the character of her people is often treated in this 
country: but the existence of slavery in America is an atrocious 
crime, with which no measures can be kept—for which her 
situation affords no sort of apology—which makes liberty 
itself distrusted, and the boast of it disgusting. 

As for emigration, every man, of course, must determine 
for himself. A carpenter under thirty years of age, who finds 
himself at Cincinnati with an axe over his shoulder, and ten 
pounds in his pocket, will get rich in America, if the change 


AMERICA. 263 


. of climate does not kill him. So will a farmer who emigrates 
early with some capital. But any person with tolerable pros- 
perity here had better remain where he is. ‘There are consi- 
derable evils, no doubt, in England: but it would be madness 
not to admit, that it is, upon the whole, a very happy country, 
—and we are much mistaken if the next twenty years will not 
bring with it a great deal of internal improvement. ‘The coun- 
try has long been groaning under the evils of the greatest 
foreign war we were ever engaged in; and we are just begin- 
ning to look again into our home affairs. Political economy 
has made an astonishing progress since they were last inves- 
tigated; and every session of Parliament brushes off some of 
the cobwebs and dust of our ancestors.* The Apprentice 
-Laws have been swept away; the absurd nonsense of the 
Usury Laws will probably-soon follow; Public Education and 
Saving Banks have been the invention of these last ten years ; 
and the strong fortress of bigotry has been rudely assailed. 
Then, with all its defects, we have a Parliament of inestimable 
value. If there be a place in any country where 500 well 
educated men can meet together and talk with impunity of 
public affairs, and if what they say is published, that country 
must improve. It is not pleasant to emigrate into a country 
of changes and revolution, the size and integrity of whose em- 
pire no mancan predict. ‘The Americans are a very sensible, 
reflecting people, and have conducted their affairs extremely 
well; but it is scarcely possible to conceive that such an em- 
pire should very long remain undivided, or that the dwellers 
on the Columbia should have common interest with the navi- 
gators of the Hudson and the Delaware. 

England is, to be sure, a very expensive country; but a 
million of millions has been expended in making it habitable 
and comfortable; and this is a constant source of revenue, or, 
what is the same thing, a constant diminution of expense to 
every man living init. The price an Englishman pays for a 
turnpike road is not equal to the tenth part of what the delay 
would cost him without a turnpike. ‘The New River Com- 


* In a scarcity which occurred little more than twenty years ago, 
every judge, (except the Lord Chancellor, then Justice of the Common 
Pleas, and Serjeant Remington,) when they charged the grand jury, at- 
tributed the scarcity to the combinations of the farmers; and complained 
of it as a very serious evil. Such doctrines would not now be tole- 
rated in the mouth of a schoolboy. 


264 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


pany brings water to every inhabitant of London at an infi- 
nitely less price than he could dip for it out of the Thames. 
No country, in fact, is so expensive as one which human 
beings are just beginning to inhabit;--where there are no 
roads, no bridges, no skill, no help, no combination of powers, 
and no force of capital. 

How, too, can any man take upon himself to say, that he 
is so indifferent to his country that he will not begin to love it 
intensely, when he is 5000 or 6000 miles from it? And 
what a dreadful disease Nostalgia must be on the banks of the 
Missouri! Severe and painful poverty will drive us all any- 
where: but a wise man should be quite sure he has so irresis- 
tible a plea, before he ventures on the Great or the Little 
Wabash. He should be quite sure that he does not go there 
from ill temper—or to be pitied—or to be regretted—or from 
ignorance of what is to happen to him—or because he is a 
poet—but because he has not enough to eat here, and is sure of 
abundance where he is going. 


GAME LAWS. 265 


GAME LAWS. (Epinsuren Review, 1819.) 


Three Letters on the Game Laws. Rest Fenner, Black & Co. London, 
1818. 


Tue evil of the Game Laws, in their present state, has long 
been felt, and of late years has certainly rather increased-than 
diminished. We believe that they cannot long remain in 
their present state; and we are anxious to express our opinion 
of those changes which they ought to experience. 

We thoroughly acquiesce in the importance of encouraging 
those field sports which are so congenial to the habits of Eng- 
lishmen, and which, in the present state of society, afford the 
only effectual counterbalance to the allurements of great towns. 
We cannot conceive a more pernicious condition for a great 
nation, than that its aristocracy should be shut up from one 
year’s end to another in a metropolis, while the mass of its 
rural inhabitants are left to the management of factors and 
agents. A great man returning from London, to spend his 
summer in the country, diffuses intelligence, improves man- 
ners, communicates pleasure, restrains the extreme violence of 
subordinate politicians, and makes the middling and lower 
classes better acquainted with, and more attached to their 
natural leaders. At the same time, a residence in the country 
gives to the makers of laws an opportunity of studying those 
interests which they may afterwards be called upon to protect 
and arrange. Nor is it unimportant to the character of the 
higher orders themselves, that they should pass a considerable 
part of the year in the midst of these their larger families; that 
they should occasionally be thrown among simple, laborious, 
frugal people, and be stimulated to resist the prodigality of 
courts, by viewing with their own eyes the merits and the 
wretchedness of the poor. 

Laws for the preservation of game are not only of import- 
ance, as they increase the amusements of the country, but 
they may be so constructed as to be perfectly just. ‘The game 
which my land feeds is certainly mine; or, in other words, 

VOL. 1.—18 


266 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the game which all the land feeds certainly belongs to all the 
owners of the land; and the only practical way of dividing it 
is, to give to each proprietor what he can take on his own 
ground. ‘Those who contribute nothing to the support of the 
animal, can have no possible right to a share in the distribu- 
tion. ‘To say of animals, that they are fere Naturd, means 
only, that the precise place of their birth and nurture is not 
known. How they shall be divided, is a matter of arrange- 
ment among those whose collected property certainly has pro- 
duced and fed them; but the case is completely made out 
against those who have no Jand at all, and who cannot there- 
fore have been in the slightest degree instrumental to their 
production. If alarge pond were divided by certain marks 
into four parts, and allotted to that number of proprietors, the 
fish contained in that pond would be, in the same sense, fere 
Natura. Nobody could tell in which particular division each 
carp had been born and bred. The owners would arrange 
their respective rights and pretensions in the best way they 
could; but the clearest of all possible propositions would be, 
that the four proprietors, among them, made a complete title 
to all the fish; and that nobody but them had the smallest title 
to the smallest share. This we say, in answer to those who 
contend that there is no foundation for any system of game 
laws; that animals born wild are the property of the pub- 
lic; and that their appropriation is nothing but tyranny and 
usurpation. 

In addition to these arguments, it is perhaps scarcely neces- 
sary to add, that nothing which is worth having, which is 
accessible, and supplied only in limited quantities, could exist 
at all, if it was not considered as the property of some indivi- 
dual. If every body might take game wherever they found it, 
there would soon be an end of every species of game. The 
advantage would not be extended to fresh classes, but be 
annihilated for all classes. Besides all this, the privilege of 
killing game could not be granted without the privilege of 
trespassing on landed property ;—an ‘intolerable evil, which 
would entirely destroy the comfort and privacy of a country 
life. 

But though a system of game laws is of great use in pro- 
moting country amusements, and may, in itself, be placed on a 
footing of justice, its effects, we are sorry to say, are by no 
means favourable to the morals of the poor. 


GAME LAWS. 267 


It is impossible to make an uneducated man understand in 
what manner a bird hatched nobody knows where,—to-day 
living in my field, to-morrow in yours,—should be as strictly 
property as the goose whose whole history can be traced, in 
the most authentic and satisfactory manner, from the egg to 
the spit. ‘The arguments upon which this depends are so 
contrary to the notions of the poor,—so repugnant to their pas- 
sions,—and, perhaps, so much above their comprehension, 
that they are totally unavailing. ‘The same man who would 
respect an orchard, a garden, or an hen-roost, scarcely thinks 
_ he is committing any fault at all in invading the game-covers 
of his richer neighbour; and as soon as he becomes wearied 
of honest industry, his first resource is in plundering the rich 
magazine of hares, pheasants, and partridges—the top and bot- 
tom dishes, which on every side of his village are running and 
flying before his. eyes. As these things cannot be done with 
safety in the day, they must be done in the night;—and in 
this manner a lawless marauder is often formed, who proceeds 
from one infringement of law and property to another, till he 
becomes a thoroughly bad and corrupted member of society. 

These few preliminary observations lead naturally to the 
two principal considerations which are to be kept in view, in 
reforming the game laws ;—to preserve, as far as is consist- 
ent with justice, the amusements of the rich, and to diminish, 
as much as possible, the temptations of the poor. And these 
ends, it seems to us, will be best answered, 

1. By abolishing qualifications. 2. By giving to every 
man a property in the game upon his land. 3. By allowing 
game to be bought by any body, and sold by its lawful pos- 
sessors.* 

Nothing can be more grossly absurd than the present state 
of the game laws, as far as they concern the qualification for 
shooting. In England, no man can possibly have a legal right 
to kill game, who has not 100/. a year in Jand rent. With us 
in Scotland, the rule is not quite so inflexible, though in prin- 
ciple not very different.—But we shall speak to the case 
which concerns by far the greatest number: and certainly it 
is scarcely possible to imagine a more absurd and capricious 
limitation. For what possible reason is a man, who has only 
90/. per annum in land, not to kill the game which his own 


* All this has sinc? been established. 


268 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


land nourishes? If the legislature really conceives, as we 
have heard surmised by certain learned squires, that a person 
of such a degree of fortune should be confined to profitable 
pursuits, and debarred from that pernicious idleness into 
which he would be betrayed by field sports, it would then be 
expedient to make a qualification for bowls or skittles—to pre- 
vent small landowners from going to races, or following a pack 
of hounds—and to prohibit to men of a certain income, every 
other species of amusement as well as this. The only instance, 
however, in which this paternal care is exercised, is that in 
which the amusement of the smaller landowner is supposed to 
interfere with those of his richer neighbour. He may do 
what he pleases, and elect any other species of ruinous idle- 
ness but that in which the upper classes of society are his 
rivals. 

Nay, the law is so excessively ridiculous in the case of small 
landed proprietors, that on a property of less than 100/, per 
annum, 20 human being has the right of shooting. It is not 
confined but annihilated. ‘The lord of the manor may be 
warned off by the proprietor; and the proprietor may be in- 
formed against by any body who sees him sporting. The case 
is still stronger in the instance of large farms. In Northum- 
berland, and on the borders of Scotland, there are large capi- 
talists who farm to the amount of two or three thousand per 
annum, who have the permission of their distant non-resident 
Jandlords to do what they please with the game, and yet who 
dare not fire off a gun upon their own land. Can any thing 
be more utterly absurd and preposterous, than that the landlord 
and the wealthy tenant together cannot make up a title to the 
hare which is fattened upon the choicest produce of their land? 
That the landlord, who can let to farm the fertility of the land 
for growing wheat, cannot let to farm its power of growing 
partridges? ‘That he may reap by deputy, but cannot on that 
manor shoot by deputy? Is it possible that any respectable 
magistrate could fine a farmer for killing a hare upon his own 
grounds with his landlord’s consent, without feeling that he 
was violating every feeling of common sense and justice ? 

Since the enactment of the game laws, there has sprung 
up an entirely new species of property, which of course is 
completely overlooked by their provisions. An Englishman 
may possess a million of money in funds, or merchandise— 
may be the Baring or the Hope of Europe—provide to gov- 


GAME LAWS. 269 


ernment the sudden means of equipping fleets and armies, and 
yet be without the power of smiting a single partridge, though 
invited by the owner of the game to participate in his amuse- 
ment. It is idle to say that the difficulty may be got over, by 
purchasing land: the question is, upon what principle of jus- 
tice can the existence of the difficulty be defended? If the 
right of keeping men-servants was confined to persons who 
had more than 100/. a year in the funds, the difficulty might 
be got over by every man who would change his landed pro- 
perty to that extent. But what could justify so capricious a 
partiality to one species of property? ‘There might be some 
apology for such laws at the time they were made; but there 
can be none for their not being now accommodated to the 
changes which time has introduced. If you choose to exclude 
poverty from this species of amusement, and to open it to 
wealth, why is it not opened to every species of wealth? 
What amusement can there be morally lawful to an holder of 
turnip land, and criminal in a possessor of exchequer bills? 
What delights onght to be tolerated to long annuities, from 
which wheat and beans should be excluded? What matters 
whether it is scrip or short-horned cattle? If the locus quo 
is conceded—if the trespass is waived—and if the qualifica- 
tion for any amusement is wealth, let it be any provable 
wealth— 


Dives agris, dives positis in feenore nummis. 


It will be very easy for any country gentleman who wishes 
to monopolize to himself the pleasures of shooting, to let 
to his tenant every other right attached to the land, except 
the right of killing game; and it will be equally easy, in the 
formation of a new game act, to give to the landlord a sum- 
mary process against his tenant, if such tenant fraudulently 
exercises the privileges he has agreed to surrender. 

The case which seems most to alarm country gentlemen, is 
that of a person possessing a few acres in the heart of a manor, 
who might, by planting food of which they are fond, allure 
the game into his own little domain, and thus reap an harvest 
prepared at the expense of the neighbour who surrounded him. 
But, under the present game laws, if the smaller possession 
belongs to a qualified person, the danger of intrusion is equally 
great as it would be under the proposed alteration; and the 
danger from the poacher would be the same in both cases. 


270 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


But if it is of such great consequence to keep clear from all 
interference, may not such a piece of land be rented or bought ? 
Or, may not the food which tempts game, be sown in the same 
abundance in the surrounding as in the inclosed land? After 
all, it is only common justice, that he whose property is sur- 
rounded on every side by a preserver of game, whose corn and 
turnips are demolished by animals preserved for the amuse- 
ment of his neighbour, should himself be entitled to that share 
of game which plunders upon his land. ‘The complaint which 
the landed grandee makes is this. ‘ Here isa man who has only 
a twenty-fourth part of the land, and he expects a twenty- 
fourth part of the game. He is so captious and litigious, that 
he will not be contented to supply his share of the food with- 
out requiring his share of what the food produces. I want a 
neighbour who has talents only for suffering, not one who 
evinces such a fatal disposition for enjoying.’ Upon such 
principles as these, many of the game laws have been con- 
structed, and are preserved. ‘The interference of a very small 
property with a very large one; the critical position of one or 
two fields, is a very serious source of vexation on many other 
occasions besides those of game. He who possesses a field 
in the middle of my premises, may build so as to obstruct my 
view; and may present to me the hinder parts of a barn, in- 
stead of one of the finest landscapes in nature. Nay, he may 
turn his field into tea-gardens, and destroy my privacy by the 
introduction of every species of vulgar company. ‘The legis- 
lature, in all these instances, has provided no remedy for the 
inconveniences which a small property, by such intermixture, 
may inflict upon a large one, but has secured the same rights 
to unequal proportions. It is very difficult to conceive why 
these equitable principles are to be violated in the case of game 
alone. 

Our securities against that rabble of sportsmen which the 
abolition of qualifications might be supposed to produce, are, 
the consent of the owner of the soil as an indispensable pre- 
liminary, guarded by heavy penalties—and the price of a 
certificate, rendered, perhaps, greater than it is at present. It 
is impossible to conceive why the owner of the soil, if the right 
of game is secured to him, has not a right to sell, or grant the 
right of killing it to whom he pleases—just as much as he has 
the power of appointing whom he pleases to kill his ducks, 
pigeons, and chickens. ‘The danger of making the poor idle, 


GAME LAWS. 271 


is a mere pretence. It is monopoly calling in the aid of hy- 
pocrisy, and tyranny veiling itself in the garb of philosophical 
humanity. A poor man goes to wakes, fairs and horse-races, 
without pain and penalty ; a little shopkeeper, when his work 
is over, may go to a bull-bait, or to the cock-pit; but the idea 
of his pursuing an hare, even with the consent of the land- 
owner, fills the Bucolic senator with the most lively apprehen- 
sions of relaxed industry, and ruinous dissipation.—The truth 
is, if a poor man does not offend against morals or religion, 
and supports himself and his family without assistance, the 
law has nothing todo with hisamusements. The real barriers 
against increase of sportsmen (if the proposed alteration were 
admitted), are, as we have before said, the prohibition of the 
' Jandowner; the tax to the state for a certificate ; the necessity 
of labouring for support.—Whoever violates none of these 
rights, and neglects none of these duties in his sporting, sports 
without crime;—and to punish him would be gross and 
scandalous tyranny. 

The next alteration which we would propose is, that game 
should be made property; that is, that every man should 
have a right to the game found upon his land—and that the 
violation of it should be punished as poaching now is, by 
pecuniary penalties, and summary conviction before magis- 
trates. This change in the game laws would be an addi- 
tional defence of game; for the landed proprietor has now no 
other remedy against the qualified intruder upon his game, 
than an action at law for a trespass on the land; and if the 
trespasser has received no notice, this can hardly be called 
any remedy atall. It is now no uncommon practice for per- 
sons who have the exterior, and perhaps the fortunes of gentle- 
men, as they are travelling from place to place, to shoot over 
manors where they have no property, and from which, as 
strangers, they cannot have been warned.. In such case 
(which, we repeat again, is by no means one of rare occur- 
rence), it would, under the reformed system, be no more diffi- 
cult for the lord of the soil to protect his game, than it would 
be to protect his geese and ducks. But though game should 
be considered as property, it should still be considered as the 
lowest species of property—because it is in its nature more 
vague and mutable than any other species of property, and 
because depredations upon it are carried on at a distance from 
the dwelling, and without personal alarm to the proprietors. 


wy 


272 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


It would be very easy to increase the penalties, in proportion 
to the number of offences committed by the same individual. 

The punishments which country gentlemen expect by mak- 
ing game property, are the punishments affixed to offences of a 
much higher order; but country gentlemen must not be al- 
lowed to legislate exclusively on this, more than on any other 
subject. ‘he very mention of hares and partridges in the 
country, too often puts an end to common humanity and com- 
mon sense. Game must be protected; but protected without 
violating those principles of justice, and that adaptation of 
punishment to crime, which (incredible as it may appear), are 
of infinitely greater importance than the amusements of country 
gentlemen. 

We come now to the sale of game.—The foundation on 
which the propriety of allowing this partly rests, is the impos- 
sibility of preventing it. ‘There exists, and has sprung up 
since the game laws, an enormous mass of wealth, which has 
nothing to do with Jand. . Do the country gentlemen imagine, 
that it is in the power of human laws to deprive the three per 
cents of pheasants? ‘That there is upon earth, air, or sea, a 
single flavour (cost what crime it may to procure it), that 
mercantile opulence will not procure? Increase the difficulty, 
‘and you enlist vanity on the side of luxury; and make that 
be sought for as a display of wealth, which was before valued 
only for the gratification of appetite. ‘The law may multiply 
penalties by reams. Squires may fret and justices commit, 
and gamekeepers and poachers continue their nocturnal wars. 
There must be game on Lord Mayor’s day, do what you will. 
“You may multiply the crimes by which it is procured; but 
nothing can arrest its inevitable progress, from the wood of 
the esquire to the spit of the citizen. The late law for pre- 
venting the sale of game produced some little temporary diffi- 
culty in London at the beginning of the season. ‘The poul- 
terers were alarmed, and came to some resolutions. But the 
alarm soon began to subside, and the difficulties to vanish. 
In another season, the law will be entirely nugatory and forgot- 
ten. ‘The experiment was tried of increased severity; and a 
law passed to punish poachers with transportation who were 
caught poaching in the night time with arms. What has the 
consequence been ?—Not a cessation of poaching, but a succes- 
sion of village guerillas;—-an internecive war between the 
gamekeepers and marauders of game;—the whole country 


GAME LAWS. 273 


flung into brawls and convulsions, for the unjust and exorbitant 
pleasures of country gentlemen. The poacher hardly believes 
he is doing any wrong in taking partridges and pheasants. He 
would admit the justice of being transported for stealing sheep ; 
and his courage in such a transaction would be impaired by 
a consciousness he was doing wrong: but he has no such 
feeling in taking game; and the preposterous punishment of 
transportation makes him desperate, and not timid. Single 
poachers are gathered into large companies, for their mutual 
protection; and go out, not only with the intention of taking 
game, but of defending what they take with their lives. Such 
feelings soon produce a rivalry of personal courage, anda 
thirst of revenge between the villagers and the agents of power. 
We extract the following passages on this subject from the 
Three Letters on the Game Laws: 


‘The first and most palpable effect has naturally been, an exalta- 
tion of all the savage and desperate features in the poacher’s charac- 
ter. The war between him and the gamekeeper has necessarily 
become a “bellum internecivum.” A marauder may hesitate perhaps 
at killing his fellow man, when the alternative is only six months’ 
imprisonment in the county jail; but when the alternative is to over- 
come the keeper, or to be torn from his family and connections, and 
sent to hard labour at the Antipodes, we cannot be much surprised 
that murders and midnight combats have considerably increased this 
season; or that information, such as the following, has frequently 
enriched the columns of the country newspapers.’ 

‘“ Poacutne.—Richard Barnett was on Tuesday convicted before 
T. Clutterbuck, Esq., of keeping and using engines or wires for the 
destruction of game in the parish of Dunkerton, and fined 52 He was 
taken into custody by C. Coates, keeper to Sir Charles Bamfylde, 
Bart., who found upon him 17 wire-snares. The new act that has 
just passed against these illegal practices, seems only to have irritated 
the offenders, and made them more daring and desperate. The fol- 
lowing is a copy of an anonymous circular letter, which has been 
received by several magistrates, and other eminent characters in this 
neighbourhood. 

<“«'T axe NoTIcE.— We have lately heard and seen that there is an 
act passed, and whatever poacher is caught destroying the game, is to 
be transported for seven years.—This ts English liberty! 

““Now, we do swear to each other, that the first of our company 
that this law is inflicted on, that there shall not one gentleman’s seat 
in our country escape the rage of fire. We are nine in number, and 
we will burn every gentleman’s house of note. The first that im- 
‘peaches shall be shot. We have sworn not to impeach. You may 
think it a threat, but they will find it reality. ‘The game laws were 
too severe before. The Lord of all men sent these animals for the 
peasants as well as for the prince. God will not let his people be 


274 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


oppressed. He will assist us in our undertaking, and we will execute 
it with caution.” ’—Bath Paper. 

‘“Dearn or A Poacner.—On the evening of Saturday se’ennight, 
about eight or nine o’clock, a body of poachers, seven in number, 
assembled by mutual agreement of the estate of the Hon. John Dut- 
ton at Sherborne, Gloucestershire, for the purpose of taking hares and 
other game. With the assistance of two dogs, and some nets and 
snares which they brought with them, they had succeeded in catching 
nine hares, and were carrying them away, when they were discovered 
by the gamekeeper, and seven others who were engaged with him in 
patroling the different covers, in order to protect the game from nightly 
depredators. Immediately on perceiving the poachers, the keeper 
summoned them ina civil and peaceable manner to give up their 
names, the dogs, implements, &c. they had with them, and the game 
they had taken; at'the same time assuring them, that his party had 
fire-arms (which were produced for the purpose of convincing and 
alarming them), and representing to them the folly of resistance, as, 
in the event of an affray, they must inevitably be overpowered by 
superior numbers, even without fire-arms, which they were deter- 
mined not to resort to unless compelled in self-defence. Notwith- 
standing this remonstrance of the keeper, the men unanimously re- 
fused to give up on any terms, declaring, that if they were followed, 
they would give them “a brush,” and would repel force by force. 
The poachers then directly took off their great coats, threw them down 
with the game, &c. behind them, and approached the keepers in an 
attitude of attack. A smart contest instantly ensued, both parties 
using only the sticks or bludgeons they carried: and such was the 
confusion during the battle, that some of the keepers were occasionally 
struck by their own comrades in mistake for their opponents. After 
they had fought in this manner about eight or ten minutes, one of the 
poachers, named Robert Simmons, received a violent blow upon his 
left temple, which felled him to the ground, where he lay, crying out 
murder, and asking for mercy. The keepers very humanely desired 
that all violence might cease on both sides: upon which three of the 
poachers took to flight and escaped, and the remaining three, together 
with Simmons, were secured by the keepers. Simmons, by the assist- 
ance of the other men, walked to the keeper’s house, where he was 
placed in a chair: but he soon after died. His death was no doubt 
caused by the pressure of blood upon the brain, occasioned by the 
rupture of a vessel from the blow he had received. The three poachers 
who had been taken were committed to Northleach prison. The in- 
quest upon the body of Simmons was taken on Monday, before W. 
Trigge, Gent., Coroner; and the above account is extracted from the 
evidence given upon that occasion. The poachers were all armed 
with bludgeons, except the deceased, who had provided himself with 
the thick part of a flail, made of firm knotted crabtree, and pointed at 
the extremity, in order to thrust with, if occasion required. The de- 
ceased was an athletic muscular man, very active, and about twenty- 
eight years of age. He resided at Bowle, in Oxfordshire, and has left 
a wife, but no child. The three prisoners were heard in evidence; 


GAME LAWS. 275 


and all concurred in stating that the keepers were in no way blame- 
able, and attributed their disaster to their own indiscretion and impru- 
dence. Several of the keepers’ party were so much beat as to be now 
confined to their beds. The two parties are said to be total strangers 
to each other, consequently no malice prepense could have existed 
between them; and as it appeared to the jury, after a most minute 
and deliberate investigation, that the confusion during the affray was 
so great, that the deceased was as likely to be struck by one of his 
own party as by the keepers’, they returned a verdict of—Manslaughter 
against some person or persons unknown.”’ 

‘Wretched as the first of these productions is, I think it can scarcely 
be denied, that both its spirit and its probable consequences are wholly 
to be ascribed to the exasperation naturally consequent upon the se- 
vere enactment just alluded to. And the last case is at least a strong 
proof that severity of enactment is quite inadequate to correct the 
evil.” —(p. 356-359.) 


Poaching will exist in some degree, let the laws be what 
they may; but the most certain method of checking the poacher 
seems to be by underselling him. If game can be lawfully 
sold, the quantity sent to market will be increased, the price 
lowered, and, with that, the profits and temptations of the 
poacher. Not only would the prices of the poacher be low- 
ered, but we much doubt if he would find any sale at all. Li- 
censes to sell game might be confined to real poulterers, and 
real occupiers of a certain portion of land. It might be ren- 
dered penal to purchase it from any but licensed persons; and 
in this way the facility of the lawful, and the danger of the 
unlawful trade, would either annihilate the poacher’s trade, or 
reduce his prices so much, that it would be hardly worth his 
while to carry iton. What poulterer in London, or in any of 
the large towns, would deal with poachers, and expose him- 
self to indictment for receiving stolen goods, when he might 
supply his customers at fair prices by dealing with the lawful 
proprietor of game? Opinion is of more power than law. 
Such conduct would soon become infamous; and every respect- 
able tradesman would be shamed out of it. The consumer 
himself would rather buy his game of a poulterer at an increase 
of price, than pick it up clandestinely, and at a great risk, 
though a somewhat smaller price, from porters and booth- 
keepers. Give them a chance of getting it fairly, and they 
will not get it unfairly. At present, no one has the slightest 
shame at violating a law which every body feels to be absurd 
and unjust. 

Poultry-houses are sometimes robbed ;—but stolen poultry 


276 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


is rarely offered to sale ;—at least, nobody pretends that the 
shops of poulterers, and the tables of moneyed gentlemen, are 
supplied by these means. Out of one hundred geese that are 
consumed at Michaelmas, ninety-nine come into the jaws of 
the consumer by honest means ;—and yet, if it had pleased 
the country gentlemen to have goose laws as well as game 
laws ;—if goose-keepers had been appointed, and the sale and 
purchase of this savoury bird prohibited, the same enjoyments 
would have been procured by the crimes and convictions of 
the poor; and the periodical gluttony of Michaelmas have been 
rendered as guilty and criminal, as it is indigestible and un- 
wholesome; Upon this subject we shall quote a passage from 
the very sensible and spirited letters before us. 


‘In favourable situations, game would be reared and preserved for 
the express purpose of regularly supplying the market in fair and 
open competition; which would so reduce its price, that I see no 
reason why a partridge should be dearer than a rabbit, or a hare and 
pheasant than aduck or goose. This is about the proportion of price 
which the animals bear to each other in France, where game can be 
legally sold, and is regularly brought to market; and where, by the 
way, game is as plentiful as in any cultivated country in Europe. 
The price so reduced would never be enough to compensate the risk 
and penalties of the unlawful poacher, who must therefore be driven 
out of the market. Doubtless, the great poulterers of London and the 
commercial towns, who are the principal instigators of poaching, would 
cease to have any temptation to continue so, as they could fairly and 
lawfully procure game for their customers at a cheaper rate from the 
regular breeders. They would, as they now do for rabbits and wild- 
fowl, contract with persons to rear and preserve them for the regular 
supply of their shops, which would be a much more commodious 
and satisfactory, and less hazardous way for them, than the irregular 
and dishonest and corrupting methods now pursued. Itis not saying 
very much in favour of human nature to assert, that men in respect- 
able stations of society had rather procure the same ends by honest 
than dishonest means. Thus would all the temptations to offend 
against the game laws, arising from the change of society, together 
with the long chain of moral and political mischiefs, at once dis- 
appear. 

‘But then, in order to secure a sufficient breed of game for the 
supply of the market, in fair and open competition, it will be neces- 
sary to authorize a certain number of persons, likely to breed game: 
for sale, to take and dispose of it when reared at their expense. For 
this purpose, I would suggest the propriety of permitting by law occu- 
piers of land to take and kill game, for sale or otherwise, on their own 
accupations only, unless, (if tenants) they are specifically prohibited 
by agreement with their landlord; reserving the game and the power 
of taking it to himself (as is now frequently done in leases.) This 


GAME LAWS. 277 


permission should not, of course, operate during the current leases, 
unless by agreement. With this precaution, nothing could be fairer 
than such an enactment; for it is certainly at the expense of the occu- 
pier that the game is raised and maintained: and unless he receive an 
equivalent for it, either by abatement of rent upon agreement, or by 
permission to take and dispose of it, he is certainly an injured man. 
Whereas it is perfectly just that the owner of the land should have 
the option either to increase his rent by leaving the disposal of his 
game to his tenant, or vice versa. Game would be held to be (as in 
fact it is) an outgoing from the land, like tithe and other burdens, 
and therefore to be considered in a bargain; and land would either be 
let game-free, or a special reservation of it made by agreement. 

‘Moreover, since the breed of game must always depend upon the 
occupier of the land, who may, and frequently does, destroy every 
head of it, or prevent its coming to maturity, unless it is considered in 
his rent; the license for which I am now contending, by affording an 
inducement to preserve the breed in particular spots, would evidently 
have a considerable effect in increasing the stock of game in other 
parts, and in the country at large. There would be introduced a 
general system of protection depending upon individual interest, 
instead of a general system of destruction. I have, therefore, very 
little doubt that the provision here recommended would, upon the 
whole, add facilities to the amusements of the sportsman, rather than 
subtract from them. A sportsman without land might also hire from 
the occupier of a large tract of land the privilege of shooting over it, 
which would answer to the latter as well as sending his game to the 
market. In short, he might in various ways get a fair return, to 
which he is well entitled for the expense and trouble incurred in rear- 
ing and preserving that particular species of stock upon his land” — 
(p. 337—339.) 


There are sometimes 400 or 500 head of game killed in 
great manors on a single day. We think it highly probable, 
the greater part of this “harvest (if the game laws were altered) 
would go to the poulterer, to purchase poultry or fish for the 
ensuing London season. Nobody is so poor and so distressed 
as men of very large fortunes, who are fond of making an un- 
wise display to the world; and if they had recourse to these 
means of supplying game, it is impossible to suppose that the 
occupation of the poacher could be continued.—The smug- 
gler can compete with the spirit-merchant, on account of the 
great duty imposed by the revenue; but where there is no 
duty to be saved, the mere thief—the man who brings the 
article to market with an halter round his neck—the man of 
whom it is disreputable and penal to buy—who hazards life, 
liberty, and property, to procure the articles which he sells; 
such an adventurer can never be long the rival of him who 


278 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


honestly and fairly produces the articles in which he deals. — 
Fines, imprisonments, concealment, loss of character, are 
great deductions from the profits of any trade to which they 
attach, and great discouragements to its pursuit. 

It is not the custom at present for gentlemen to sell their 
game; but the custom would soon begin, and public opinion 
soon change. It is not unusual for men of fortune to contract 
with their gardeners to supply their own table, and to send the 
residue to market, or to sell their venison; and the same thing 
might be done with the manor. If game could be bought, it 
would not be sent in presents:—barn-door fowls are never so 
sent, precisely for this reason. 

The price of game would, under the system of laws of 
which we are speaking, be further lowered by the introduction 
of foreign game, the sale of which, at present prohibited, 
would tend very much to the preservation of English game by 
underselling the poacher. It would not be just, if it were 
possible, to confine any of the valuable productions of nature 
to the use of one class of men, and to prevent them from be- 
coming the subject of barter, when the proprietor wished so 
to exchange them. It would be just as reasonable that the 
consumption of salmon should be confined to the proprietors 
of that sort of fishery—that the use of charr should be limited 
to the inhabitants of the lakes—that maritime Englishmen 
should alone eat oysters and lobsters, as that every other class 
of the community than landowners should be prohibited from 
the acquisition of game. 

It will be necessary, whenever the game laws are revised, 
that some of the worst punishments now inflicted for an in- 
fringement of these laws should be repealed. ‘To transport a 
man for seven years, on account of partridges, and to harass a 
poor wretched peasant in the Crown Office, are very prepos- 
terous punishments for such offences: humanity revolts against 
them—they are grossly tyrannical—and it is disgraceful that 
they should be suffered to remain on our statute books. But 
the most singular of all abuses, is the new class of punishments 
which the squirarchy have themselves enacted against depre- 
dations on game. ‘The law says, that an unqualified man 
who kills a pheasant, shall pay five pounds; but the squire 
says he shall be shot;—and accordingly he places a spring- 
gun in the path of the poacher, and does all he can to take 
away his life. ‘The more humane and mitigated squire man- 


GAME LAWS. 279 


gles him with traps; and the supra-fine country gentleman 
only detains him in machines, which prevent his escape, but 
do not lacerate their captive. Of the gross illegality of such 
proceedings, there can be no reasonable doubt. ‘Their immo- 
rality and cruelty are equally clear. If they are not put down 
by some declaratory law, it will be absolutely necessary that 
the judges, in their invaluable circuits of Oyer and Terminer, 
should leave two or three of his majesty’s squires to a fate too 
vulgar and indelicate to be alluded to in this journal. 

Men have certainly a clear right to defend their property; 
but then it must be by such means as the law allows :—their 
houses by pistols, their fields by actions for trespass, their 
game by information. ‘There is an end of law, if every man 
is to measure out his punishment for his own wrong. Nor 
are we able to distinguish between the guilt of two persons,— 
the one of whom deliberately shoots a man whom he sees in 
his fields—the other of whom purposely places such instru- 
ments as he knows will shoot trespassers upon his fields. 
Better that it should be lawful to kill a trespasser face to face, 
than to place engines which will kill him. ‘The trespasser 
may be a child—a woman—a son or friend. ‘The spring-gun 
cannot accommodate itself to circumstances,—the squire or the 
gamekeeper may. 

These, then, are our opinions respecting the alterations in 
the game laws, which, as they now stand, are perhaps the 
only system which could possibly render the possession of 
game so very insecure as it now is. We would give to every 
man an absolute property in the game upon his land, with full 
power to kill—to permit others to kill—and to sell;—we 
would punish any violation of that property by summary con- 
viction, and pecuniary penalties—rising in value according to 
the number of offences. This would of course abolish all 
qualifications; and we sincerely believe it would lessen the 
profits of selling game illegally, so as very materially to lessen 
the number of poachers. It would make game, as an article of 
food, accessible to all classes, without infringing the laws. It 
would limit the amusements of country gentlemen within the 
boundaries of justice—and would enable the magistrate cheer- 
fully and conscientiously to execute laws, of the moderation 
and justice of which he must be thoroughly convinced. ‘To 
this conclusion, too, we have no doubt we shall come at the 


280 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


last. After many years of seutigeral folly—loaded prisons*— 
nightly battles—poachers tempted—and families ruined, these 
principles will finally prevail, and make law once more coin- 
cident with reason and justice. 


* In the course of the last year, no fewer than twelve hundred per- 
sons were committed for offences against the game; besides those 
who ran away from their families for the fear of commitment. This 
is no slight quantity of misery. 


BOTANY BAY. 281 


BOTANY BAY. (Eninzpuren Review, 1819.) 


1. A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of 
New South Wales, and its dependent Settlements in Van Diemen’s 
Land: with a particular Enumeration of the Advantages which these 
Colonies offer for Emigration, and their Superiority in many respects 
over those possessed by the United States of America. By W.C. Went- 
worth, Esq., a Native of the Colony. Whittaker. London, 1819. 


2. Letter to Viscount Sidmouth, Secretary of State for the Home Depart- 
ment, on the Transportation Laws, the State of the Hulks, and of the 
Colonies in New South Wales. By the Hon. Henry Grey Bennet, 
M.P. Ridgway. London, 1819. 


3. O’Hara’s History of New South Wales. Hatchard. London, 1818. 


Tuis land of convicts and kangaroos is beginning to rise into 
a very fine and flourishing settlement: — And great indeed 
must be the natural resources, and splendid the endowments 
of that land that has been able to survive the system of neglect* 
and oppression experienced from the mother country, and the 
series of ignorant and absurd governors that have been selected 
for the administration of its affairs. But mankind live and flou- 
rish not only in spite of storms and tempests, but (which could 
not have been anticipated previous to experience) in spite of 
colonial secretaries expressly paid to watch over their interests. 
The supineness and profligacy of public officers cannot always 
overcome the amazing energy with which human beings pur- 
sue their happiness, nor the sagacity with which they deter- 
mine on the means by which that end is to be promoted. Be 
it our care, however, to record for the future inhabitants of 
Australasia, the political sufferings of their larcenous fore- 
fathers; and let them appreciate, as they ought, that energy 


* One and no small excuse for the misconduct of colonial secre- 
taries is, the enormous quantity of business by which they are dis- 
tracted. There should be two or three colonial secretaries instead of 
one: the office is dreadfully overweighted. The government of the 
colonies is commonly a series of blunders. 

VOL. 1.—19 


282 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


which founded a mighty empire in spite of the afflicting blun- 
ders and marvellous cacceconomy of their government. 

Botany Bay is situated in a fine climate, rather Asiatic than 
European,—with a great variety of temperature,—but favour- 
able on the whole to health and life. It, conjointly with Van 
Diemen’s Land, produces coal in great abundance, fossil salt, 
slate, lime, plumbago, potter’s clay: iron; white, yellow, and 
brijliant topazes; alum and copper. ‘These are all the important 
fossil productions which have been hitherto discovered: but 
the epidermis of the country has hardly as yet been scratched ; 
and it is most probable that the immense mountains which 
divide the eastern and western settlements, Bathurst and Syd- 
ney, must abound with every species of mineral wealth. ‘The 
harbours are admirable; and the whole world, perliaps, cannot 
produce two such as those of Port Jackson and Derwent. 
The former of these is land-locked for fourteen miles in length, 
and of the most irregular form: its soundings are more than 
sufficient for the largest ships; and all the navies of the world 
might ride in safety within it. In the harbour of Derwent 
there is a road-stead forty-eight miles in length, completely 
Jand-locked ;—varying in breadth from eight to two miles,— 
in depth from thirty to four fathoms,—and affording the best 
anchorage the whole way. 

The mean heat, during the three summer months, Decem- 
ber, January, and February, is about 80° at noon. ‘The heat 
which such a degree of the thermometer would seem to indi- 
cate, is considerably tempered by the sea-breeze, which blows 
with considerable force from nine in the morning till seven in. 
theevening. ‘The three autumn months are March, April, and 
May, in which the thermometer varies from 55° at night to 
75° at noon. ‘The three winter months are June, July, and 
August. During this interval, the mornings and evenings are 
very chilly, and the nights excessively cold; hoar-frosts are 
frequent; ice, half an inch thick, is found twenty miles from 
the coast; the mean temperature, at daylight, is from 40° to 
45°, and at noon from 55° to 60°. In the three months of 
spring, the thermometer varies from 60° to 70°. ‘The climate 
to the westward of the mountains is colder. Heavy falls of 
snow take place during the winter; the frosts are more severe, 
and the winters of longer duration. All the seasons are much 
more distinctly marked, and resemble much more those of this 
country. : 


BOTANY BAY. 283 


Such is the climate of Botany Bay; and, in this remote 
part of the earth, Nature (having made horses, oxen, ducks, 
geese, ouks, elms, and all regular and useful productions for 
the rest of the world), seems determined to have a bit of play, 
and to amuse herself as she pleases. Accordingly, she makes 
cherries with the stone on the outside; and a monstrous 
animal, as tall as a grenadier, with the head of a rabbit, a tail 
as big as a bed-post, hopping along at the rate of five hops 
to a mile, with three or four young kangaroos looking out of 
its false uterus to see what is passing. ‘Then comes a quad- 
ruped as big as a large cat, with the eyes, colour, and skin of 
a mole, and the bill and web-feet of a duck—puzzling Dr. 
Shaw, and rendering the latter half of his life miserable, from 
his utter inability to determine whether it was a bird or a beast. 
Add to this a parrot, with the legs of a sea-gull; a skate with 
the head of a shark; and a bird of such monstrous dimensions, 
that a side bone of it will dine three real carnivorous English- 
men ;—together with many other productions that agitate Sir 
Joseph, and fill him with mingled emotions of distress and 
delight. 

The colony has made the following progress :— 


Stock in 1788. Stock in 1817. 
Horned Cattle - - - “ 5 Do. - - 44,753 
Horses” - u - = - 7 Do. - - 3,072 
Sheep - - - - - 29 Do. ° - 170,920 
Hogs - - - - - 74 Do. - - 17,842 
Land in cultivation - - - 0 acres. Do. - - 47,564. 
Inhabitants - - - - 1000 Do. - - 20,379 


The colony has a bank, with a capital of 20,000/.; a news- 
paper; and a capital (the town of Sydney) containing about 
7000 persons. There is also a Van Diemen’s Land Gazette. 
The perusal of these newspapers, which are regularly trans- 
mitted to England, and may be purchased in London, has 
afforded us considerable amusement. Nothing can paint ina 
more lively manner the state of the settlement, its disadvan- 
tages, and prosperities, and the opinions and manners which 
prevail there. 

‘On Friday, Mr. James Squires, settler and brewer, waited on his 
excellency at Government House, with two vines of hops taken from 
his own grounds, &c.—As a public recompense for the unremitted 
attention shown by the grower in bringing this valuable plant to such 
a high degree of perfection, his excellency has directed a cow to be 
given to Mr. Squires from the government herd.’—O’ Hara, p. 255. 


284 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


‘To Parents and Guardians. 


‘A person who flatters herself her character will bear the strictest 
scrutiny, being desirous of receiving into her charge a proposed 
number of children of her own sex, as boarders, respectfully acquaints 
parents and guardians that she is about to situate herself either in 
Sydney or Paramatta, of which notice will be shortly given. She 
doubts not, at the same time, that her assiduity in the inculcation of 
moral principles in the youthful mind, joined to an unremitting atten- 
tion and polite diction, will insure to her the much-desired confidence 
of those who may think proper to favour her with such a charge.— 
Inquiries on the above subject will be answered by G. Howe, at Sydney, 
who will make known the name of the advertiser. —(p. 270.) 


‘ Lost, 


‘(supposed to be on the governor’s wharf,) two small keys, a tortoise 
shell comb, and a packet of papers. Whoever may have found them, 
will, on delivering them to the printer, receive areward of half a gallon 
of spirits.’—(p. 272.) 


‘To the Public. 


‘As we have no certainty of an immediate supply of paper, we can- 
not promise a publication next week.’—(p. 290.) 


‘ Fashionable Intelligence, Sept. 7th. 


‘On Tuesday his excellency the late governor, and Mrs. King, arrived 
in town from Paramatta; and yesterday Mrs. King returned thither, 
accompanied by Mrs. Putland.’—(Jdid.) 


‘ To be sold by private Contract, by Mr. Bevan, 


‘An elegant four-wheeled chariot, with plated mounted harness for 
four horses complete; and a handsome lady’s side-saddle and bridle. 
May be viewed, on application to Mr. Bevan.’—(p. 347.) 


‘ From the Derwent Star. 


‘Lieutenant Lord, of the Royal Marines, who, after the death of 
Lieutenant-Governor Collins, succeeded to the command of the set- 
tlement at Hobart Town, arrived at Port Jackson in the Hunter, and 
favours us with the perusal of the ninth number published of the 
Derwent Star and Van Diemen’s Land Intelligencer; from which we 
copy the following extracts.’—(p. 353.) 


‘A Card. 


‘The subscribers to the Sydney Race Course are informed that the 
Stewards have made arrangements for two balls during the race week, 
viz. on Tuesday and Thursday.—Tickets, at 7s. 6d. each, to be had at 
Mr. E. Wills’s, George Street—An ordinary for the subscribers and 
their friends each day of the races, at Mr. Wills’s.\—Dinner on table 
at five o’clock.—(p. 356.) 


‘ The Ladies’ Cup. 
‘The ladies’ cup, which was of very superior workmanship, won 


ee 


Deal aa 


BOTANY BAY. 285 


by Chase, was presented to Captain Richie by Mrs. M’Quarie; who, 
accompanied by his excellency, honoured each day’s race with her 
presence, and who, with her usual affability, was pleased to preface 
the donation with the following short address.—“In the name of the 
Ladies of New South Wales, I have the pleasure to present you with 
this cup. Give me leave to congratulate you on being the successful 
candidate for it; and to hope that it is a prelude to future success, and 
lasting prosperity.” ’—(p. 357.) 


‘ Butchers. 


‘Now killing, at Matthew Pimpton’s, Cumberland street, Rocks, 
beef, mutton, pork, and lamb. By retail, ls. 4d. per lib. Mutton by 
the carcass, ls. per lib. sterling, or 14d. currency; warranted to weigh 
from 10 lib. to 12 lib. per quarter. Lamb per ditto.—Captains of ships 
supplied at the wholesale price, and with punctuality—N.B. Beef, 
pork, mutton, and lamb, at E. Lamb’s, Hunter street, at the above 
prices.’—(p. 376.) 


‘Salt Pork and Flair from Otaheite. 


‘On sale, at the warehouse of Mrs. 8S. Willis, 96 George street, a 
large quantity of the above articles, well cured, being the Mercury’s 
last importation from Otaheite. The terms per cask are 10d. per lib. 
sterling, or ls. currency.—N.B. For the accommodation of families, it 
will be sold in quantities not less than 112 lib’”—(p. 377.) 

‘Painting. —A Card. 

‘Mr. J. W. Lewin begs leave to inform his friends and the public 
in general, that he intends opening an academy for painting on the 
days of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from the hours of 10 to 12 
in the forenoon.—Terms 5s. alesson: Entrance 20s.—NV.B. The even- 
ing academy for drawing continued as usual.’—(p. 384.) 


‘ Sale of Rams. 


‘Ten rams of the Merino breed, lately sold by auction from the 
flocks of John M‘Arthur, Esq., produced upwards of 200 guineas.’ — 
(p. 288.) 

‘ Mrs. Jones’s Vacation Ball, December 12th. 


‘Mrs. Jones, with great respect, informs the parents and guardians 
of the young ladies entrusted to her tuition, that the vacation ball is 
fixed for Tuesday the 22d instant, at the seminary, No. 45 Castlereagh 
street, Sydney. Tickets 7s. 6d. each.’—(p. 388.) 


‘Sporting Intelligence. 


‘A fine hunt took place the 8th instant at the Nepean, of which the 
following is the account given by a gentleman present. “ Having cast 
off by the government hut on the Nepean, and drawn the cover in 
that neighbourhood for a native Dog unsuccessfully, we tried the 
forest ground for a Kangaroo, which we soon found. It went off in 
excellent style along the sands by the river side, and crossed to the 
. Cow-pasture Plains, running a circle of about two miles; then re- 
crossed, taking a direction for Mr. Campbell’s stock-yard, and from 


286 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


thence at the back of Badge Allen Hill to the head of Boorroobaham 
Creek, where he was headed; from thence he took the main range of 
hills between the Badge Allen and Badge Allenabinjee, in a straight 
direction for Mr. Throsbey’s farm, where the hounds ran into him; 
and he was killed, after a good run of about two hours.’—The weight 
of the animal was upwards of 120 lib.”—(p. 380.) 


Of the town of Sydney, Mr. Wentworth observes, that 
there are in it many public buildings, as well as houses of in- 
dividuals, that would not disgrace the best parts of London ; 
but this description we must take the liberty to consider as 
more patriotic than true. We rather suspect it was penned 
before Mr. Wentworth was in London; for he is (be it said 
to his honour) a native of Botany Bay. ‘The value of lands 
(in the same spirit he adds) is half as great in Sydney as in 
the best situations in London; and is daily increasing: The 
proof of this which Mr. Wentworth gives is, that ‘it is not a 
commodious house which can be rented for 100/. per annum 
unfurnished.’ ‘The town of Sydney contains two good pub- 
lic schools, for the education of 224 children of both sexes. 
There are establishments also for the diffusion of education 
in every populous district throughout the colony; the masters 
of these schools are allowed stipulated salaries from the Or- 
phans’ fund. Mr. Wentworth states that one-eighth part of 
the whole revenue of the colony is appropriated to the pur- 
poses of education ;—this eighth he computes at 2500/.  In- 
dependent of these institutions, there is an Auxiliary Bible 
Society, a Sunday School, and several good private schools. 
This is all as it should be: the education of the poor, im- 
portant everywhere, is indispensable at Botany Bay. Nothing 
but the earliest attention to the habits of children can restrain 
the erratic finger from the contiguous scrip, or prevent the 
hereditary tendency to larcenous abstraction. ‘The American 
arrangements respecting the education of the lower orders is 
excellent. ‘Their unsold lands are surveyed, and divided into 
districts. In the centre of every district, an ample and well- 
selected lot is provided for the support of future schools. We 
wish this had been imitated in New Holland; for we are of 
opinion that the elevated nobleman, Lord Sidmouth, should 
imitate what is good and wise, even if the Americans are his 
teachers. Mr. Wentworth talks of 15,000 acres set apart for 
the support of the Female Orphan Schools; which certainly 
does sound a little extravagant: but then 50 or 100 acres of 


BOTANY BAY. 287 


this reserve are given as a portion to each female orphan; so 
that all this pious tract of ground will be soon married away. 
This dotation of women, in a place where they are scarce, is 
amiable and foolish enough. ‘There is a school also for the 
education and civilization of the natives, we hope not to the 
exclusion of the children of convicts, who have clearly a prior 
claim upon public charity. 

Great exertions have been made in public roads and bridges. 
The present governor has wisely established toll-gates in all 
the principal roads. No tax can be more equitable, and no 
money more beneficially employed. ‘The herds of wild cattle 
have either perished through the long droughts, or been de- 
stroyed by the remote settlers. ‘They have nearly disap- 
peared; and their extinction is a good rather than an evil. A 
very good horse for cart or plough may now be bought for 52. 
to 10/.; working oxen for the same price; fine young breed- 
ing ewes from 1J. to 3/., according to the quality of the fleece. 
So lately as 1808, a cow and calf were sold by public auction 
for 105/.; and the price of middling cattle was from 80/. to 
100/. A breeding mare was, at the same period, worth from 
150 to 200 guineas; and ewes from 10/. to 20/. ‘The inha- 
bitants of New South Wales have now 2000 years before 
them of cheap beef and mutton. ‘The price of land is of 
course regulated by its situation and quality. Four years 
past, an hundred and fifty acres of very indifferent ground, 
about three quarters of a mile from Sydney, were sold, by 
virtue of an execution, in lots of 12 acres each, and averaged 
14/. per acre. ‘This is the highest price given for land not 
situated ina town. ‘The general average of unimproved land 
is 5/. per acre. In years when the crops have not suffered 
from flood or drought, wheat sells for 9s. per bushel; maize 
for 3s. 6d.; barley for 5s.; oats for 4s. 6d.; potatoes for 6s. 
per cwt. By the last accounts received from the colony, mut- 
ton and beef were 6d. per lib.; veal 8d.; pork 9d. Wheat 
8s. 8d. per bushel; oats 4s., and barley 5s. per ditto. Fowls 
4s. 6d. per couple; ducks 6s. per ditto; geese 5s. each; tur- 
keys 7s. 6d. each; eggs 2s. 6d. per dozen; butter 2s. 6d. 
per lib. ‘There are manufacturers of coarse woollen cloths, 
hats, earthenware, pipes, salt, candles, soap. There are ex- 
tensive breweries and tanneries; and all sorts of mechanics 
and artificers necessary for an infant colony. Carpenters, 
stone masons, bricklayers, wheel and plough wrights, and all 


288 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the most useful description of artificers, can earn from 8s. to 
10s. per day. Great attention has been paid to the improve- 
ment of wool; and it is becoming a very considerable article 
of export to this country. 

The most interesting circumstance in the accounts lately 
received from Botany Bay, is the discovery of the magnificent 
river on the western side of the Blue Mountains. The public 
are aware, that a fine road has been made from Sydney to 
Bathurst, and a new town founded at the foot of the western 
side of these mountains, a distance of 140 miles. ‘The coun- 
try in the neighbourhood of Bathurst has been described as 
beautiful, fertile, open, and eminently fit for all the purposes 
of a settlement. ‘The object was to find a river; and such an 
one has been found, the description of which it is impossible 
to read without the most lively interest. The intelligence is 
contained in a despatch from Mr. Oxley, surveyor-general 
of the settlement, to the governor, dated 30th August, 1817. 


‘““On the 19th, we were gratified by falling in with a river running 
through a most beautiful country, and which I would have been well 
contented to have believed the river we were in search of. Accident led 
us down this stream about a mile, when we were surprised by its junc- 
tion with a river coming from the south, of such width and magnitude, 
as to dispel all doubts as to this last being the river we had so long 
anxiously looked for. Short as our resources were, we could not re- 
sist the temptation this beautiful country offered us to remain two 
days on the junction of the river, for the purpose of examining the 
vicinity to as great an extent as possible. 

‘“ Our examination increased the satisfaction we had previously 
felt. As far as the eye could reach in every direction, a rich and 
picturesque country extended, abounding in limestone, slate, good 
timber, and every other requisite that could render an uncultivated 
country desirable. The soi] cannot be excelled; whilst a noble river 
of the first magnitude affords the means of conveying its productions 
from one part to the other. Where I quitted it, its course was 
northerly; and we were then north of the parallel of Port Stevens, 
being in latitude 32° 45’ south, and 148° 58’ east longitude. 

‘“TIt appeared to me that the Macquarrie had taken a north-north- 
west course from Bathurst, and that it must have received immense 
accessions of water in its course from that place. We viewed it at 
a period best calculated to form an accurate judgment of its import- 
ance, when it was neither swelled by flocds beyond its natural and 
usual height, nor contracted within its limits by summer droughts. 
Of its magnitude when it should have received the streams we had 
crossed, independent of any it may receive from the east, which, from 
the boldness and height of the country, I presume, must be at least as 
many, some idea may be formed, when at this point it exceeded, in 


BOTANY BAY. 289 


breadth and apparent depth, the Hawkesbury at Windsor. Many of 
the branches were of grander and more extended proportion than the 
admired one on the Nepean river from the Warragambia to Emu 
lains. 

3 ‘“Resolving to keep as near the river as possible during the re- 
mainder of our course to Bathurst, and endeavour to ascertain, at 
least on the west side, what waters fell into it, on the 22d we pro- 
ceeded up the river; and, between the point quitted and Bathurst, 
crossed the sources of numberless streams, all running into the Mac- 
quarrie. Two of them were nearly as large as that river itself at 
Bathurst. The country from whence all these streams derive their 
source was mountainous and irregular, and appeared equally so on 
the east side of the Macquarrie. This description of country extended 
to the immediate vicinity of Bathurst; but to the west of those lofty 
ranges the country was broken into low grassy hills and fine valleys, 
watered by rivulets rising on the west side of the mountains, which, 
on their eastern side, pour their waters directly into the Macquarrie. 

‘«These westerly streams appeared to me to join that which I had 
at first sight taken for the Macquarrie; and, when united, fall into it 
at the point at which it was first discovered on the 19th inst. 

‘*«* We reached this place last evening, without a single accident 
having occurred during the whole progress of the expedition, which 
from this point has encircled, with the parallels of 34° 0’ south and 
32° south, and between the meridians of 149° 43’ and 148° 40’ east, 
a space of nearly one thousand miles.” ’— Wentworth, pp. 72—75. 


The nearest distance from the point at which Mr. Oxley 
left off, to any part of the western coast, is very little short 
of 2000 miles. ‘The Hawkesbury, at Windsor (to which he 
compares his new river in magnitude,) is 250 yards in breadth, 
and of sufficient depth to float a 74-gun ship. At this point it 
has 2000 miles in a straight line to reach the ocean; and if it 
winds as rivers commonly do wind, it has a space to flow over 
of between 5000 and 6000 miles. ‘The course and direction 
of the river have since become the object of two expeditions, 
one by land under Mr. Oxley, the other by sea under Lieu- 
tenant King, to the results of which we look forward with 
great interest. Enough of the country on the western side of 
the Blue Mountains has been discovered, to show that the set- 
tlement has been made on the wrong side. The space between 
the Mountains and the Eastern Sea is not above 40 miles in 
breadth, and the five or six miles nearest the coast are of very 
barren Jand. ‘The country, on the other side, is boundless, 
fertile, well watered, and of very great beauty. The import- 
ance of such a river as the Macquarrie is incalculable. We 
cannot help remarking here, the courtly appellations in which 


2 


290 , WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


xeography delights ;—the river Hawkesbury; the town of 
Windsor on its banks; Bathurst Plains; Nepean River. 
Shall we never hear of the Gulf of Tierney; Brougham Point; 
or the Straits of Mackintosh on the river Grey? 

The mistakes which have been made in settling this fine 
colony are of considerable importance, and such as must very 
seriously retard its progress to power and opulence. ‘The 
first we shall mention is the settlement on the Hawkesbury. 
Every work of nature has its characteristic defects. Marshes 
should be suspected of engendering disease—a volcanic coun- 
try of eruptions—rivers of overflowing. A very little portion 
of this kind of reflection would have induced the disposers of 
land in New South Wales to have become a little better ac- 
quainted with the Hawkesbury before they granted land on 
its banks, and gave that direction to the tide of settlement and 
cultivation. It turns out that the Hawkesbury is the embou- 
chure through which all the rain that falls on the eastern side 
of the Blue Mountain makes its way to the sea; and accord- 
ingly, without any warning, or any fall of rain on the settled 
part of the river, the stream has often risen from 79 to 90 feet 
above its common level. 


‘These inundations often rise seventy or eighty feet above low 
water mark; and in the instance of what is still emphatically termed 
“the great flood,” attained an elevation of ninety-three feet. The chaos 
of confusion and distress that presents itself on these occasions can- 
not be easily conceived by any one who has not been a witness of its 
horrors. An immense expanse of: water, of which the eye cannot in 
many directions discover the limits, everywhere interspersed with 
growing timber, and crowded with poultry, pigs, horses, cattle, stacks 
and houses, having frequently men, women, and children, clinging to 
them for protection, and shrieking out in an agony of despair for as- 
sistance :—such are the principal objects by which these scenes of 
death and devastation are characterized. 

‘These inundations are not periodical, but they most generally hap- 
pen in the monthof March. Within the last two years there have been 
no fewer than four of them, one of which was nearly as high as the 
great flood. In the six years preceding, there had not been one. 
Since the establishment of the colony, they have happened, upon an 
average, about once in three years. 

“The principal cause of them is the contiguity of this river to the 
Blue Mountains. The Grose and Warragambia rivers, from which 
two sources it derives its principal supply, issue direct from these 
mountains; and the Nepean river, the other principal branch of it, runs 
along the base of them for fifty or sixty miles; and receives, in its pro- 
gress, from the innumerable mountain torrents connected with it, the 


a 


BOTANY BAY. 291 


whole of the rain which these mountains collect in that great extent. 
That this is the principal cause of these calamitous inundations has 
been fully proved; for shortly after the plantation of this colony, the 
Hawkesbury overflowed its banks (which are in general about thirty 
feet in height,) in the midst of harvest, when nota single drop of rain 
had fallen on the Port Jackson side of the mountains. Another great 
cause of the inundations which take place in this and the other rivers 
in the colony is the small fall that is in them, and the consequent 
slowness of their currents. The current in the Hawkesbury, even 
when the tide is in full ebb, does not exceed two miles an hour. The 
water, therefore, which during the rains rushes in torrents from the 
mountains, cannot escape with sufficient rapidity; and from its im- 
mense accumulation soon overtops the banks of the river, and covers 
the whole of the low country.”— Wentworth, pp. 24-26 

It appears to have been a great oversight not to have built 
the town of Sydney upon a regular plan. Ground was granted, 
in the first instance, without the least attention to this cireum- 
stance; and a chaos of pigstyes and houses was produced, 
which subsequent governors have found it extremely difficult 
to reduce to a state of order and regularity. 

Regularity is of consequence in planning a metropolis; but 
fine buildings are absurd in the infant state of any country. 
The various governors have unfortunately displayed rather too 
strong a taste for architecture—forgetting that the real Palladio 
for Botany Bay, in its present circumstances, is he who keeps 
out the sun, wind and rain, with the smallest quantity of bricks 
and mortar. 

The appointment of Governor Bligh appears to have been a 
very serious misfortune to the colony—at such an immense 
distance from the mother-country, with such an uncertainty of 
communication, and with a population so peculiarly circum- 
stanced. In these extraordinary circumstances, the usual job- 
bing of the treasury should really be laid aside, and some 
little attention paid to the selection of a proper person. It is 
common, we know, to send a person who -is somebody’s 
cousin; but, when anew empire is to be founded, the treasury 
should send out, into some other part of the town, for a man 
of sense and character. 

Another very great absurdity which has been committed at 
Botany Bay, is the diminution of their strength and resources 
by the foundation of so many subordinate settlements. No 
sooner had the settlers unpacked their boxes at Port Jackson, 
than a fresh colony was settled in Norfolk Island under Lieu- 
tenant King, which was afterwards abandoned, after consider- 


292 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


able labour and expense, from the want of an harbour: besides 
four or five settlements on the main land, two or three thousand 
persons, under a lieutenant-governor, and regular officers, are 
settled in Van Diemen’s Land. The difficulties of a new 
colony are such, that the exertions of all the arms and legs are 
wanted merely to cover their bodies and fill their bellies: 
the passage from one settlement to another, necessary for 
common intercourse, is a great waste of strength; ten thou- 
sand men, within a given compass, will do much more for 
the improvement of a country than the same number spread 
over three times the space—will make more miles of road, clear 
more acres of wood, and build more bridges. The judge, the 
windmill, and the school, are more accessible; and one judge, 
one windmill, and one school, may do instead of two;—there 
is less waste of labour. We do not, of course, object to the 
natural expansion of a colony over uncultivated lands—the 
more rapidly that takes place the greater is the prosperity of 
the settlement; but we reprobate the practice of breaking the 
first population of a colony, by the interposition of govern- 
ment, into small detached portions, placed at great intervals. 
It is a bad economy of their resources; and as such, is very 
properly objected to by the committee of the House of Com- 
mons. 

This colony appears to have suffered a good deal from the 
tyrannygas well as the ignorance of its governors. On the 7th 
of December, 1816, Governor Macquarrie issued the following 
order :-— 


‘His excellency is also pleased further to declare, order, and direct, 
that in consideration of the premises, the under-mentioned sums, 
amounts, and charges, and no more, with regard to and upon the va- 
rious denominations of work, labour, and services, described and set 
forth, shall be allowed, claimed, or demandable within this territory 
and its dependencies in respect thereof’— Wentworth, pp. 105, 106. 


And then follows a schedule of every species of labour, to 
each of which a maximum is affixed. We have only to ob- 
serve, that a good stout inundation of the Hawkesbury would 
be far less pernicious to the industry of the colony than such 
gross ignorance and absurdity as this order evinces. Young 
surgeons are examined in Surgeons’ Hall on the methods of 
cutting off legs and arms before they are allowed to practise 
surgery. An examination on the principles of Adam Smith, 
and a license from Mr. Ricardo, seem to be almost a neces- 


BOTANY BAY. 293 


sary preliminary for the appointment of governors. We must 
give another specimen of Governor Macquarrie’s acquaint- 
ance with the principles of political economy. 


‘General Orders. 


“His excellency has observed, with much concern, that, at the pre- 
sent time of scarcity, most of the garden ground attached to the allot- 
ments, whereon different descriptions of persons have been allowed 
to build huts, are totally neglected, and no vegetable growing thereon: 
—as such neglect in the occupiers, points them out as unfit to profit by 
such indulgence, those who do not put the garden ground attached to 
the allotments they occupy in cultivation, on or before the 10th day of 
July next, will be dispossessed (except in cases wherein ground is 
held by lease), and more industrious persons put in possession of them, 
as the present necessities of the settlementrequire every exertion being 
used to supply the wants of families, by the ground attached to their, 
dwellings being made as productive as possible—By command of his 
excellency. G. Braxwext, Sec. Government House, Sydney, June 
21st, 1806.”—O’ Hara, p. 275. 


This compulsion to enjoy, this despotic benevolence, is 
something quite new in the science of government. 

The sale of spirits was first of all monopolized by the go- 
vernment, and then let out to individuals, for the purpose of 
building an hospital. Upon this subject Mr. Bennet ob- 
serves,— 


‘Heretofore all ardent spirits brought to the colony were purchased 
by the government, and served out at fixed prices to the officers, civil 
and military, according to their ranks; hence arose a discreditable 
and gainful trade on the part of these officers, their wives and 
mistresses. The price of spirits at times was so high, that one and 
two guineas have been given for a single bottle. ‘I'he thirst after 
ardent spirits became a mania among the settlers: all the writers on 
the state of the colony, and all who have resided there, and have given 
testimony concerning it, describe this rage and passion for drunken- 
ness as prevailing in all classes, and as being the principal foundation 
of all the crimes committed there. This extravagant propensity to 
drunkenness was taken advantage of by the governor, to aid him in 
the building of the hospital. Mr. Wentworth, the surgeon, Messrs. 
Riley and Blaxwell, obtained permission to enter a certain quantity 
of spirits ;—they were to pay a duty of five or seven shillings a gallon 
on the quantity they introduced, which duty was to be set apart for 
the erection of the hospital. ‘To prevent any other spirits from being 
landed, a monopoly was given to these contractors. As soon as the 
agreement was signed, these gentlemen sent off to Rio Janeiro, the 
Mauritius, and the East Indies, for a large quantity of rum and arrack, 
which they could purchase at about the rate of 2s. or 2s. 6d. per gallon, 
and disembarked it at Sydney. From there being but few houses that 
were before permitted to sell this poison, they abounded in every 


294 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


street; and such was the enormous consumption of spirits, that money 
was soon raised to build the hospital, which was finished in 1814, 
Mr. Marsden informs us, that in the small town of Paramatta thirteen 
houses were licensed to deal in spirits, though he should think five at 
the utmost would be amply sufficient for the accommodation of the 
public.’—Bennet, pp. 77-79. 


The whole coast of Botany Bay and Van Diemen’s Land 
abounds with whales; and accordingly the duty levied upon 
train oil procured by the subjects in New South Wales, or im- 
ported there, is twenty times greater than that paid by the in- 
habitants of this country ; the duty on spermaceti oil, imported, 
is sixty times greater. ‘The duty levied on train oil, sperma- 
ceti, and head matter, procured by the inhabitants of Newfound- 
land, is only three times the amount of that which is levied on 
the same substance procured by British subjects residing in the 
United Kingdom. ‘The duty levied on oil procured by British 
subjects residing in the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or in the 
plantations of North America, is only eight times the amount 
on train oil, and twelve times the amount on spermaceti, of 
that which is levied on the same substances taken by British 
subjects within the United Kingdom. ‘The duty, therefore, 
which is payable on train oil in vessels belonging to this colony 
is nearly seven times greater than that which is payable on 
the same description of oil taken in vessels belonging to the 
island of Newfoundland, and considerably more than double of 
that which is payable on the same commodity taken in vessels 
belonging to the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or to the planta- 
tions in North America; while the duty which is levied on 
spermaceti oil, procured in vessels belonging to this colony, is 
five times the amount of that which is levied on vessels be- 
longing to the above-mentioned places, and twenty times the 
amount of that which is levied’ on vessels belonging to New- 
foundland. ‘The injustice of this seems to us to be quite enor- 
mous. ‘The statements are taken from Mr. Wentworth’s 
book. 

The inhabitants of New South Wales have no trial by jury ; 
the governor has not even a council to restrain him. ‘There 
is imposed in this country a very heavy duty on timber and 
coals exported; but for which, says Mr. Wentworth, some 
hundred tons of these valuable productions would have been 
sent annually to the Cape of Good Hope and India, since the 
vessels which have been in the habit of trading between those 


BOTANY BAY. 295 


countries and the colony have always returned in ballast. ‘The 
owners and consignees would gladly have shipped cargoes of 
timber and coals, if they could have derived the most minute 
profit from the freight of them. 

The Australasians grow corn; and it is necessarily their 
staple. ‘The Cape is their rival in the corn trade. The food 
of the inhabitants of the East Indies is rice; the voyage to 
Europe is too distant for so bulky an article as corn. ‘The 
supply to the government stores furnished the cultivators of 
New South Wales with a market in the first instance, which 
is now become too insignificant for the great excess of the sup- 
ply above the consumption. Population goes on with immense 
rapidity ; but while so much new and fertile land is before 
them, the supply continues in the same proportion greater 
than the demand. The most obvious method of affording a 
market for this redundant corn is by encouraging distilleries 
within the colony ; a measure repeatedly pressed upon the go- 
vernment at home, but hitherto as constantly refused. Itisa 
measure of still greater importance to the colony, because its 
agriculture is subjected to the effects both of severe drought 
and extensive inundations, and the corn raised for the distillers 
would be a magazine in times of famine. A recommendation 
to this effect was long since made by a committee of the House 
of Commons; but, as it was merely a measure for the increase 
of human comforts, was stuffed into the improvement baskets, 
and forgotten. There has been in all governments a great 
deal of absurd canting about the consumption of spirits. We 
believe the best plan is to let people drink what they like, and 
wear what they like; to make no sumptuary laws either for 
the belly or the back. In the first place, laws against rum and 
rum water are made by men who can change a wet coat for a 
dry one whenever they choose, and who do not often work up 
to their knees in mud and water; and, in the next place, if this 
stimulus did all the mischief it is thought to do by the wise 
men of claret, its cheapness and plenty would rather lessen 
than increase the avidity with which it is at present sought 
for. 

The governors of Botany Bay have taken the liberty of 
imposing what taxes they deemed proper, without any other 
authority than their own; and it seemed very frivolous and 
vexatious not to allow this small effusion of despotism in so 
remote a corner of the globe: but it was noticed by the oppo- 


296 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


sition in the House of Commons, and reluctantly confessed 
and given up by the administration. ‘This great portion of the 
earth begins civil life with noble principles of freedom :—may 
God grant to its inhabitants that wisdom and courage which 
are necessary for the preservation of so great a good! 

Mr. Wentworth enumerates, among the evils to which the 
colony is subjected, that clause in the last settlement of the 
East India Company’s charter, which prevents vessels of less 
than 300 tons burden from navigating the Indian seas; a re- 
striction from which the Cape of Good Hope has been lately 
liberated, and which ought, in the same manner, to be removed 
from New South Wales, where there cannot be, for many years 
to come, sufficient capital to build vessels of so large a burden. 


‘The disability,’ says Mr. Wentworth, ‘might be removed by a 
simple order in council.. Whenever his majesty’s government shall 
have freed the colonists from this useless and cruel prohibition, the 
following branches of commerce would then be opened tothem. First, 
they would be enabled to transport, in their own vessels, their coals, 
timbers, spars, flour, meat, &c. to the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of 
France, Calcutta, and many other places in the Indian seas; in all of 
which, markets more or less extensive exist for those various other 
productions which the colony might furnish. Secondly, they would 
be enabled to carry directly to Canton the sandal wood, béche Ja mer, 
dried seal skins, and, in fact, all the numerous productions which the 
surrounding seas and islands afford for the China market, and return 
freighted with cargoes of tea, silks, nankeens, &c.; all of which com- 
modities are in great demand in the colony, and are at present 
altogether furnished by East India or American merchants, to the 
great detriment and dissatisfaction of the colonial. And, lastly, they 
would be enabled, in a short time, from the great increase of capital 
which these important privileges would of themselves occasion, as 
well as attract from other countries, to open the fur-trade with the 
northwest coast of America, and dispose of the cargoes procured in 
China,—a trade which has hitherto been exclusively carried on by 
the Americans and Russians, although the colonists possess a local 
superiority for the prosecution of this valuable branch of commerce, 
which would insure them at least a successful competition with the 
subjects of those two nations.’— Wentworth, pp. 317, 318. 


The means which Mr Wentworth proposes for improving 
the condition of Botany Bay, are—trial by jury—colonial as- 
semblies, with whom the right of taxation should rest—the 
establishment of distilleries, and the exclusion of foreign spirits 
—alteration of duties, so as to place New South Wales upon 
the same footing as other colonies—removal of the restriction 
to navigate the Indian seas in vessels of a small burden—im- 


BOTANY BAY. 297 


provements in the courts of justice—encouragement for the 
growth of hemp, flax, tobacco, and wine; and, if a colonial as- 
sembly cannot be granted, that there should be no taxation 
without the authority of Parliament. 

In general, we agree with Mr. Wentworth in his statement 
of evils, and in the remedies he has proposed for them. Many 
of the restrictions upon the commerce of New South Wales are 
so absurd that they require only to be stated in Parliament to 
be corrected. ‘The fertility of the colony so far exceeds its 
increase of population, and the difficulty of finding a market 
for corn is so great—or rather the impossibility so clear—that 
the measure of encouraging domestic distilleries ought to be had 
recourse to. The colony, with a soil fit for every thing, must, 
as Mr. Wentworth proposes, grow other things besides corn, 
and excite that market in the interior which it does not enjoy 
from without. The want of demand, indeed, for the excess 
of corn, will soon effect this without the intervention of go- 
vernment. Government, we believe, have already given up the 
right of taxation without the sanction of Parliament; and there 
is an end, probably, by this time, to that grievance. A coun- 
ceil and a colonial secretary they have also expressed their 
willingness to concede. Of trial by jury, and a colonial 
assembly, we confess that we have great doubts. At some 
future time they must come, and ought to come. The only 
question is, is the colony fit for such institutions at present ? 
Are there a sufficient number of respectable persons to serve 
that office in the various settlements? If the English law is 
to be followed exactly, to compose a jury of twelve persons, a 
panel of forty-eight must be summoned. Could forty-eight 
intelligent, unconvicted men, be found in every settlement of 
New South Wales? or must they not be fetched from great 
distances, at an enormous expense and inconvenience? Is 
such an institution calculated for so very young acolony? A 
good government is an excellent thing; but it is not the first 
in the order of human wants. The first want is to subsist; 
the next to subsist in freedom and comfort; first to live at 
all, then to live well. A parliament is still a greater demand 
upon the wisdom and intelligence and opulence of a colony, 
than trial by jury. Among the twenty thousand inhabitants 
of New South Wales, are there ten persons out of the em- 
ploy of government whose wisdom and prudence could rea- 
sonably be expected to advance the interests of the colony 

VOL, I1.—20 


298 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


without embroiling it with the mother-country? Who has 
leisure, in such a state of affairs, to attend such a parliament? 
Where wisdom and conduct are so rare, every man of charac- 
ter, we will venture to say, has, like strolling players in a barn, 
six or seven important parts to perform. Mr. M’Arthur, who, 
from his character and understanding, would probably be 
among the first persons elected to the colonial legislature, be- 
sides being a very spirited agriculturist, is, we have no doubt, 
justice of the peace, curator and rector of a thousand plans, 
charities, and associations, to which his presence is essentially 
necessary. If he could be cut into as many pieces as a tree is 
into planks, all his subdivisions would be eminently useful. 
When a member of Parliament, and what is called a really re- 
spectable country gentleman, sets off to attend his duty in our 
Parliament, such diminution of intelligence as is produced by 
his absence, is, God knows, easily supplied; but in a colony of 
20,000 persons, it is impossible this should be the case. Some 
time hence, the institution of a colonial assembly will be a- very 
wise and proper measure, and so clearly called for, that the 
most profligate members of administration will neither be able 
to ridicule nor refuse it. At present we are afraid that a Bo- 
tany Bay parliament would give rise to jokes; and jokes at 
present have a great agency in human affairs. 

Mr. Bennet concerns himself with the settlement of New 
Holland, as it is a school for criminals; and, upon this subject, 
has written a very humane, enlightened, and vigorous pam- 
phlet. ‘The objections made to this settlement by Mr. Bennet 
are, in the first place, its enormous expense. ‘The colony of 
New South Wales, from 1788 to 1815 inclusive, has cost this 
country the enormous sum of 3,465,983/. In the evidence 
before the transportation committee, the annual expense of 
each convict, from 1791 to 1797, is calculated at 33/. 9s. 52d. 
per annum, and the profits of his labour are stated to be 20/. 
The price paid for the transport of convicts has been, on an 
average, 37/. exclusive of food and clothing. It appears, how- 
ever, says Mr. Bennet, by an account laid before Parliament, 
that in the year 1814, 109,746/. were paid for the transport, 
food, and clothing of 1016 convicts, which will make the cost 
amount to about 108/. per man. In 1812, the expenses of the 
colony were 176,000/.; in 1813, 235,000/.; in 1814, 231,362.; 
but in 1815 they had fallen to 150,000/. 

The cruelty and neglect in the transportation of convicts have 


BOTANY BAY. 299 


been very great—and in this way a punishment inflicted which 
it never was in the contemplation of law to enact. During the 
first eight years, according to Mr. Bennet’s statements, one- 
tenth of the convicts died on the passage; on the arrival of 
three of the ships, 200 sick were landed, 281 persons having 
died on board. ‘These instances, however, of criminal inat- 
tention to the health of the convicts no longer take place; and 
it is mentioned rather as an history of what is past, than a cen- 
sure upon any existing evil. 

In addition to the expense of Botany Bay, Mr. Bennet con- 
tends that it wants the very essence of punishment, terror; 
that the common people do not dread it; that instead of pre- 
venting crimes, it rather excites the people to their commis- 
sion, by the hopes it affords of bettering their condition in a 
new country. 


‘ All those who have had an opportunity of witnessing the effect of 
this system of transportation agree in opinion, that it is no longer an 
object of dread—it has, in fact, generally ceased to be a punishment: 
true it is, to a father of a family, to the mother who leaves her children, 
this perpetual separation from those whom they love and whom they 
support, is a cruel blow, and, when I consider the merciless character 
of the law which inflicts it, a severe penalty; but by far the greater 
number of persons who suffer this punishment, regard it in quite a 
different light. Mr. Cotton, the ordinary of Newgate, informed the 
police committee last year, “ that the generality of those who are 
transported consider it as a party of pleasure—as going out to see the 
world; they evince no penitence, no contrition, but seem to rejoice in 
the thing,—many of them to court it. Ihave heard them, when the 
sentence of transportation has been passed by the recorder, return 
thanks for it, and seem overjoyed at their sentence: the very last party 
that went off, when they were put into the caravan, shouted and huz- 
zaed, and were very joyous; several of them called out to the keepers 
who were there in the yard, the first fine Sunday we will have a glo- 
rious kangaroo hunt at the Bay,—seeming to anticipate a great deal 
of pleasure.” He was asked if those persons were married or single, 
and his answer was, “by far the greater number of them were unmar- 
ried. Some of them are anxious that their wives and children should 
follow them; others care nothing about either wives or children, and 
are glad to get rid of them.” ’—Bennet, pp. 60, 61. 


It is a scandalous injustice in this colony, that persons 
transported for seven years, have no power of returning when 
that period is expired. A strong active man may sometimes 
work his passage home; but what is an old man or an aged 
female to do? Suppose a convict were to be confined in 
prison for seven years, and then told he might get out if he 


300 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


could climb over the walls, or break open the locks, what in 
general would be his chance of liberation? But no lock nor 
doors can be so secure a means of detention as the distance of 
Botany Bay. This is a downright trick and fraud in the 
administration of criminal justice. A poor wretch who is 
banished from his country for seven years, should be furnished 
with the means of returning to his country when these seven 
years are expired.—If it is intended he should never return, 
his sentence should have been banishment for life. 

The most serious charge against the colony, as a place for 
transportation, and an experiment in criminal justice, is the 
extreme profligacy of manners which prevails there, and the 
total want of reformation among the convicts. Upon this 
subject, except in the regular letters, officially varnished and 
filled with fraudulent beatitudes for the public eye, there is, 
and there can be, but one opinion. New South Wales is a 
sink of wickedness, in which the great majority of convicts 
of both sexes become infinitely more depraved than at the 
period of their arrival. How, as Mr. Bennet very justly ob- 
serves, can it be otherwise? ‘The felon transported to the 
American plantations, became an insulated rogue among honest 
men. He lived for years in the family of some industrious 
planter, without seeing a picklock, or indulging in pleasant 
dialogues on the delicious burglaries of his youth. He imper- 
ceptibly glided into honest habits, and lost not only the tact 
for pockets, but the wish to investigate their contents. But in 
Botany Bay, the felon, as soon as he gets out of the ship, 
meets with his ancient trull, with the footpad of his heart, the 
convict of his affections,—the man whose hand he has often 
met in the same gentleman’s pocket—the being whom he 
would choose from the whole world to take to the road, or to 
disentangle the locks of Bramah. It is impossible that vice 
should not become more intense in such society. 

Upon the horrid state of morals now prevalent in Botany 
Bay, we would counsel our readers to cast their eyes upon 
the account given by Mr. Marsden, in a letter, dated July, 
1815, to Governor Macquarrie. It is given at length in the 
appendix to Mr. Bennet’s book. A more horrid picture of 
the state of any settlement was never penned. It carries with 
it an air of truth and sincerity, and is free from all enthusiastic 
cant. 


‘I now appeal to your excellency,’ (he says, at the conclusion of his 


BOTANY BAY. 301 


letter,) ‘whether, under such circumstances, any man of common 
feeling, possessed of the least spark of humanity or religion, who 
stood in the same official relation that I do to these people, as their 
spiritual pastor and magistrate, could enjoy one happy moment from 
the beginning to the end of the week? 

‘I humbly conceive that it is incompatible with the character and 
wish of the British nation, that her own exiles should be exposed to 
such privations and dangerous temptations, when she is daily feeding 
the hungry and clothing the naked, and receiving into her friendly, 
and I may add pious bosom, the stranger, whether savage or civilized, 
of every nation under heaven. There are, in the whole, under the 
two principal superintendents, Messrs. Rouse and Oakes, one hun- 
dred and eight men, and one hundred and fifty women, and several 
children; and nearly the whole of them have to find lodgings for 
themselves when they have performed their government tasks. 

‘I trust that your excellency will be fully persuaded, that it is 
totally impossible for the magistrate to support his necessary autho- 
rity, and to establish a regular police, under such a weight of accu- 
mulated and accumulating evils. I am as sensible as any one can 
be, that the difficulty of removing these evils will be very great; at the 
Same time, their number and influence may be greatly lessened, if the 
abandoned male and female convicts are lodged in barracks, and 
placed under the eye of the police, and the number of licensed houses 
is reduced. Till something of this kind is done, all attempts of the 
magistrate, and the public administration of religion, will be attended 
with little benefit to the general good. I have the honour to be, your 
excellency’s most obedient humble servant, Samuen Marspen.’— 
Bennet, p. 134. 


Thus much for Botany Bay. Asa mere colony, it is too 
distant and too expensive; and, in future, will of course involve 
us in many of those just and necessary wars, which deprive 
Englishmen so rapidly of their comforts, and make England 
scarcely worth living in. If considered as a place of reform 
for criminals, its distance, expense, and the society to which it 
dooms the objects of the experiment, are insuperable objec- 
tions to it. Itis in vain to say, that the honest people in New 
South Wales will soon bear a greater proportion to the rogues, 
and the contamination of bad society will be less fatal. ‘This 
only proves that it may be a good place for reform hereafter, 
not that itis a good one now. One of the principal reasons 
for peopling Botany Bay at all, was, that it would be an ad- 
mirable receptacle, and a school of reform, for our convicts. 
It turns out, that for the first half century, it will make them 
worse than they were before, and that, after that period, they 
may probably begin to improve.’ A marsh, to be sure, may 


302 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


be drained and cultivated; but no man who has his choice, 
would select it in the mean time for his dwelling-place. 

The three books are all books of merit. Mr. O’Hara’s is 
a bookseller’s compilation, done in a useful and pleasing 
manner. Mr. Wentworth is full of information on the present 
state of Botany Bay. ‘The humanity, the exertions, and the 
genuine benevolence of Mr. Bennet, are too well known to 
need our commendation. 

All persons who have a few guineas in their pocket, are 
now running away from Mr. Nicholas Vansittart to settle in 
every quarter of the globe. Upon the subject of emigration 
to Botany Bay, Mr. Wentworth observes, Ist, that any 
respectable person emigrating to that colony, receives as 
much land gratis as would cost him 400/. in the United States; 
2dly, he is allowed as many servants as he may require, at 
one-third of the wages paid for labour in America; 3dly, him- 
self and family are victualled at the expense of government 
for six months. He calculates that a man, wife, and two 
children, with an allowance of five tons for themselves and 
baggage, could emigrate to Botany Bay for 100/., including 
every expense, provided a whole ship could be freighted ; and 
that a single man could be taken out thither for 30/. ‘These 
points are worthy of serious attention to those who are shed- 
ding their country. 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. 303 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. (Enrnspunca Review, 1819.) 


Account of the Proceedings of the Society for superseding the Necessity of 
Climbing Boys. Baldwin, &c. London, 1816. 


Aw excellent and well-arranged dinner is a most pleasing oc- 
currence, and a great triumph of civilized life. It is not only 
the descending morsel, and the enveloping sauce—but the 
rank, wealth, wit, and beauty which surround the meats—the 
learned management of light and heat—the silent and rapid 
services of the attendants—the smiling and sedulous host, 
proffering gusts and relishes—the exotic bottles—the embossed 
plate—the pleasant remarks—the handsome dresses—the cun- 
ning artifices in fruit and farina! ‘The hour of dinner, in short, 
includes every thing of sensual and intellectual gratification 
which a great nation glories in producing. 

In the midst of all this, who knows that the kitchen chim- 
ney caught fire half an hour before dinner!—and that a poor 
little wretch, of six or seven years old, was sent up in the 
midst of the flames to put it out? We could not, previous to 
reading this evidence, have formed a conception of the miseries 
of these poor wretches, or that there should exist, in a civil- 
ized country, a class of human beings destined to such extreme 
and varied distress. We will give a short epitome of what is 
developed in the evidence before the two Houses of Parliament. 

Boys are made chimney sweepers at the early age of five or 
six. 

Little boys for small flues, is a common phrase in the cards 
left at the door by itinerant chimney sweepers. Flues made 
to ovens and coppers are often less than nine inches square; 
and it may be easily conceived, how slender the frame of that 
human body must be, which can force itself through such an 
aperture. 


‘What is the age of the youngest boys who have been employed in 
this trade, to your knowledge? About five years of age: I know one 
now between five or six years old; it is the man’s own son in the 


304 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


Strand: now there is another at Somer’s Town, I think, said he was 
between four and five, or about five; Jack Hall, a little lad, takes him 
about.—Did you ever know any female children employed? Yes, I 
know one now. About two years ago there was a woman told me 
she had climbed scores of times, and there is one at Paddington now 
whose father taught her to climb: but I have often heard talk of them 
when I was apprentice, in different places.—What is the smallest- 
sized flue you have ever met with in the course of your experience? 
About eight inches by nine; these they are always obliged to climb 
in this posture (describing it), keeping the arms up straight; if they 
slip their arms down, they get jammed in; unless they get their arms 
close over their head they cannot climb.’—Lords’ Minutes, No. 1. p. 8. 


The following is a specimen of the manner in which they - 
are taught this art of climbing chimneys. 


: * 


‘Do you remember being taught to climb chimneys? Yes.—What 
did you feel upon the first attempt to climb a chimney? The first 
chimney I went up, they told me there was some plumb-pudding and 
money up at the top of it, and that is the way they enticed me up; 
and when I got up, I would not let the other boy get from under me 
to get at it; I thought he would get it; I could not get up, and shoved 
the pot and half the chimney down into the yard.—Did you experience 
any inconvenience to your knees, or your elbows? Yes, the skin 
was off my knees and elbows too, in climbing up the new chimneys 
they forced me up.—How did they force you up? When I got up, I 
cried out about my sore knees.—Were you beat or compelled to go 
up by any violent means? Yes, when I went to a narrow chimney, 
if I could not do it, I durst not go home; when I used to come down, 
my master would well beat me with the brush; and not only my mas- 
ter, but when we used to go with the journeymen, if we could not do 
it, they used to hit us three or four times with the brush.’—Lords’ 
Minutes, No. 1. p. 5. 


In practising the art of climbing, they are often crippled. 


‘You talked of the pargetting to chimneys; are many chimneys par- 
getted? There used to be more than are now; we used to have to go 
and sit all a-twist to parge them, according to the floors, to keep the 
smoke from coming out; then I could not straighten my legs; and 
that is the reason that many are cripples,—from parging and stopping 
the holes.’—Lords’ Minutes, No. 1. p. 17. 


They are often stuck fast in a chimney, and, after remaining 
there many hours, are cut out. 


‘Have you known, in the course of your practice, boys stick in 
chimneys at all? Yes, frequently—Did you ever know an instance 
of a boy being suffocated to death? No; Ido not recollect any one at 
present, but ‘i have assisted in taking boys out when they have been 
nearly exhausted.—Did you ever know an instance of its being neces- 
sary to break open a chimney to take the boy out? O yes.—Fre- 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS, 305 


quently? Monthly I might say; it is done with a cloak, if possible, 
that it should not be discovered: a master in general wishes it not to 
be known, and therefore speaks to the people belonging to the house 
not to mention it, for it was merely the boy’s neglect; they often say 
it was the boy’s neglect Why do they say that? The boy’s climbing 
shirt is often very bad; the boy coming down, if the chimney be very 
narrow, and numbers of them are only nine inches, gets his shirt 
rumpled underneath him, and he has no power after he is fixed in 
that way (with his hand up.)—Does a boy frequently stick in the chim- 
ney? Yes, I have known more instances of that the last twelvemonth 
than before.—Do you ever have to break open in the inside of aroom? 
Yes, I have helped to break through into a kitchen chimney in a 
dining room.’—Lords’ Minutes, p. 34. 


To the same effect is the evidence of John Daniels (J&- 
nutes, p. 100,) and of James Ludford (Lords’ Minutes, p. 
147.) 


‘You have swept the Penitentiary? I have—Did you ever knowa 
boy stick in any of the chimneys there? Yes, I have.-—Was it one 
of your boys? It was.—Was there one or two that stuck? Two of 
them.—How long did they stick there? ,Two hours.—How were they 
got out? They were cut out—Was there any danger while they 
were in that situation? It was the core from the pargetting of the 
chimney, and the rubbish that the labourers had thrown down, that 
stopped them, and when they got it aside them, they could not pass.— 
They bothstuck together? Yes.—Lords’ Minutes, p. 147. 


One more instance we shall give from the evidence before 
the Commons. 


‘Have you heard of any accidents that have recently happened to 
climbing boys in the small flues? Yes;I have often met with acci- 
dents myself when I was a boy; there was lately one in Mary-le-bone, 
where the boy dost his life in a flue, a boy of the name of Tinsey (his 
father was of the same trade); that boy I think was about eleven or 
twelve years old.— Was there a coroner’s inquest sat on the body of 
that boy you mentioned? Yes, there was; he was an apprentice of 
a man of the name of Gay.—How many accidents do you recollect, 
which were attended with loss of life to'the climbing boys? I have 
heard talk of many more than I know of; I never knew of more than 
three since I have been at the trade, but I have heard talk of many 
more.—Of twenty or thirty? I cannot say; Ihave been near losing 
my own life several times. —Commons’ Report, p. 53. 


We come now to burning little chimney sweepers. A large 
party are invited to dinner—a great display is to be made ;— 
and about an hour before dinner, there is an alarm that the 
kitchen chimney is on fire! It is impossible to put off the 
distinguished personages who are expected, It gets very late 


306 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


for the soup and fish—the cook is frantic—all eyes are turned 
upon the sable consolation of the master chimney sweeper— 
and up into the midst of the burning chimney is sent one of 
the miserable little infants of the brush! There is a positive 
prohibition of this practice, and an enactment of penalties in 
one of the acts of Parliament which respect chimney sweepers. 
But what matter acts of Parliament, when the pleasures of 
genteel people are concerned? Or what is a toasted child, 
compared to the agonies of the mistress of the house witha 
deranged dinner ? 


‘Did you ever know a boy get burnt up a chimney? Yes.—Is 
that usual? Yes, I have been burnt myself, and have got the scars 
on my Jegs; a year ago I was up achimney in Liquor Pond Street; 
[I have been up more than forty chimneys where I have been burnt.——Did 
your master or the journeymen ever direct you to go up a chimney 
that was on fire? Yes, itis a general case.—Do they compel you to go 
up achimney thatis on fire? Oh yes, it was the general practice for two 
of us to stop at home on Sunday to be ready in case of a chimney 
being a-fire.—-You say it is general to compel the boys to go up chim- 
neys on fire? Yes, boys get very ill-treated if they do not go up.— 
Lords’ Minutes, p. 34. 

‘Were you ever forced up achimney on fire? Yes, I was forced 
up one once, and, because I could not do it, I was taken home and 
well hided with a brush by the journeyman.—Have you frequently 
been burnt in ascending chimneys on fire? Three times.—Are such 
hardships as you have described common in the trade with other boys? 
Yes, they are.’—Ibid. p. 100. 

‘What is the price for sending a boy up a chimney badly on fire? 
The price allowed is five shillings, but most of them charge half a 
guinea.—lIs any partof that given to the boy? No, but very often the 
boy gets half a crown; and then the journeyman has half, and his 
mistress takes the other part to take care of against Sunday.—Have 
you never seen water thrown down from the top of a chimney when 
it is on fire? Yes.—lIs not that generally done? Yes; I have seen 
that done twenty times, and the boy in the chimney; at the time when 
the boy has hallooed out, “It is so hot cannot go any further;” and 
then the expression is, with an oath, “Stop, and I will heave a pail of 
water down.” ’—Jbid. p. 39. 


Chimney sweepers are subject to a peculiar sort of cancer, 
which often brings them to a premature death. 


‘He appeared perfectly willing to try the machines everywhere? I 
must say the man appeared perfectly willing; he had a fear that he 
and his family would be ruined by them; but I must say of him, that 
he is very different from: other sweeps I have seen; he attends very , 
much to his own business; he was as black as any boy he had got, 
and unfortunately in the course of conversation he told me he had got 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. 307 


a cancer; he was a fine healthy strong looking man; he told me he 
dreaded having an operation performed, but his father died of the 
same complaint, and his father was sweeper to King George the 
Second.’—Lords’ Minutes, p. 84. 

‘What is the nature of the particular diseases? The diseases that 
we particularly noticed, to which they were subject, were of a can- 
cerous description. In what part? The scrotum in particular, &c. 
—Did you ever hear of cases of that description that were fatal?’ No, 
I do not think them as being altogether fatal, unless they will not sub- 
mit to the operation; they have such a dread of the operation that 
they will not submit to it, and if they do not let it be perfectly removed 
they will be liable to the return of it. To what cause do you attribute 
that disease? I think it begins from a want of care: the scrotum 
being in so many folds orcrevices, the soot lodges in them and creates 
an itching, and I conceive that, by scratching it and tearing it, the soot 
gets in and creates the irritability; which disease we know by the 
name of the chimney sweeper’s cancer, and is always lectured upon 
Separately as a distinct disease.--Then the committee understands 
that the physicians who are entrusted with the care and management 
of those hospitals think that disease of such common occurrence, that 
- it is necessary to make ita part of surgical education? Most as- 
suredly; I remember Mr. Cline and Mr. Cooper were particular on 
that subject.— Without an operation there is no cure? I conceive 
not; I conceive without the operation it is death; for cancers are of 
that nature that unless you extirpate them entirely they will never be 
cured.’— Commons’ Rep. p. 60, 61. 


In addition to the life they lead as chimney sweepers, is 
superadded the occupation of nightmen. 


‘(By a Lord.) Is it generally the custom that many masters are 
likewise nightmen? Yes; I forgot that circumstance, which is very 
grievous; I have been tied round the middle and let down several 
privies, for the purpose of fetching watches and such things; it is 
generally made the practice to take the smallest boy, to let him through 
the hole without taking up the seat, and to paddle about there until he 
finds it; they do not take a big boy, because it disturbs the seat.— 
Lords’ Minutes, p. 38. 


The bed of these poor little wretches is often the soot they 
have swept in the day. 


‘How are the boys generally lodged; where do they sleep at night? 
Some masters may be better than others, but I know I have slept on 
the soot that was gathered in the day myself.—Where do boys gene- 
rally sleep? Never on a bed; I never slept on a bed myself while I 
was apprentice.—Do they sleep in cellars? Yes, very often; I have 
slept in the cellar myself on the sacks I took out—What had you to 
cover you? The same.—Had you any pillow? No further than my 
breeches and jacket under my head. How were youclothed? When 
I was apprentice we had a pair of leather breeches and a small flan- 


308 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


nel jacket. Any shoes and stockings? Oh dear no; no stockings.— 
Had you any other clothes for Sunday? Sometimes we had an old bit 


of a jacket, that we might wash out ourselves, and a shirt.’—Lords’ | 


Minutes, p. 40. 
Girls are occasionally employed as chimney sweepers. 


‘Another circumstance, which has not been mentioned to the com- 
mittee, is, that there are several little girls employed; there are two of 
the name of Morgan at Windsor, daughters of the chimney sweeper, 
who is employed to sweep the chimneys of the castle; another instance 
at Uxbridge, and at Brighton, and at Whitechapel (which was some 
years ago), and at Hadley near Barnet, and Witham in Essex, and 
elsewhere. — Commons’ Report, p. 71. 


Another peculiar danger to which chimney sweepers are 
exposed, is the rottenness of the pots at the top of chimneys ; 
—for they must ascend to the very summit, and show their 
brushes above them, or there is no proof that the work is pro- 
perly completed. ‘These chimney-pots, from their exposed 
situation, are very subject to decay; and when the poor little 
wretch has worked his way up to the top, pot and boy give 
way together, and are both shivered to atoms. ‘There are 
many instances of this in the evidence before both Houses. 
When they outgrow the power of going up a chimney, they 
are fit for nothing else. ‘The miseries they have suffered lead 
to nothing. ‘They are not only enormous, but unprofitable: 
having suffered, in what is called the happiest part of life, 
every misery which an human being can suffer, they are then 
cast out to rob and steal, and given up to the law. 

Not the least of their miseries, while their trial endures, is 
their exposure to cold. It will easily be believed that much 
money is not expended on the clothes of a poor boy stolen 


from his parents, or sold by,them for a few shillings, and con-_ 


stantly occupied in dirty work. Yet the nature of their occu- 
pations renders chimney sweepers peculiarly susceptible of 
cold. And as chimneys must be swept very early, at four or 
five o’clock of a winter morning, the poor boys are shivering 
at the door, and attempting by repeated ringings to rouse the 
profligate footman; but the more they ring the more the foot- 
man does not come. 


‘Do they go out.in the winter time without stockings? Oh yes.— 
Always? I never saw one go out with stockings; I have known 
masters make their boys pull off their leggins, and cut off the feet, to 
keep their feet warm when they have chilblains.— Are chimney 
sweepers’ boys peculiarly subject to chilblains? Yes; I believe it is 


. 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. 309 


owing to the weather: they often go out at two or three in the morn- 
ing, and their shoes are generally very bad. Do they go out at that 
hour at Christmas? Yes; a man will have twenty jobs at four, and 
twenty more at five or six.—Are chimneys generally swept much 
about Christmas time? Yes; they are in general; it is left to the 
Christmas week.—Do you suppose it is frequent that, in the Christ- 
mas week, boys are out from three o’clock in the morning to nine or 
ten? Yes, further than that; I have known that a boy has been only 
in and out again directly all day till five o’clock in the evening.—Do 
you consider the journeymen and masters treat those boys generally 
with greater cruelty than other apprentices in other trades are treated ? 
They do, most horrid and shocking. —Lords’ Minutes, p. 33. 


The following is the reluctant evidence of a master. 


‘At what hour in the morning did your boys go out upon their em- 
ployment? According to orders.—At anytime? To be sure; suppose 
a nobleman wished to have his chimney done before four or five 
o’clock in the morning, it was done, or how were the servants to get 
their things done?—Supposing you had an order to attend at four 
o’clock in the morning in the month of December, you sent your boy? 
I was generally with him, or had acareful follower with him.—Do you 
think those early hours beneficial for him? Ido; and I have heard 
that “early to bed and early to rise, is the way to be healthy, wealthy, 
and wise.”—Did they always get in as soon as they knocked? No; 
it would be pleasant to the profession if they could.—How long did 
they wait? Till the servants please to rise.—How long might that be? 
According how heavy they were to sleep—How long was that? It 
is impossible to say; ten minutes at one house, and twenty at another. 
—Perhaps half an hour? We cannot seein the dark how the minutes 
go.—Do you think it healthy to let them stand there twenty minutes at 
four o’clock in the morning in the winter time? He has a cloth to 
wrap himself in like a mantle, and keep himself warm.’—Lords’ 
Minutes, pp. 138, 139. 


We must not forget sore eyes. Soot lodges on their eye- 
lids, produces irritability, which requires friction; and the 
friction of dirty hands of course increases the disease. The 
greater proportion of chimney sweepers are in consequence 
blear-eyed. ‘The boys are very small, but they are compelled 
to carry heavy loads of soot. 


‘Are you at all lame yourself?. No: but Iam “knapped-kneed”’ 
with carrying heavy loads when I was an apprentice. ‘That was the 
occasion of it? It was. In general, are persons employed in your 
trade either stunted or knock-kneed by carrying heavy loads during 
their childhood? It is owing to their masters a great deal; and when 
they climb a great deal it makes them weak.’—Commons’ Report, p. 58. 


In climbing a chimney, the great hold is by the knees and 
elbows. A young child of 6 or 7 years old, working with 


310 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


knees and elbows against hard bricks, soon rubs off the skin 
from these bony projections, and is forced to climb high 
chimneys with raw and bloody knees and elbows. 


‘Are the boys’ knees and elbows rendered sore when they first be- 
gin to learn to climb? Yes, they are, and pieces out of them.—Is 
that almost generally the case? It is; there is not one out of twenty 
who is not; and they are sure to take the scars to their grave: I have 
some now.—Are they usually compelled to continue climbing while 
those sores are open? Yes; the way they use to make them hard is 
that way.—Might not this severity be obviated by the use of pads in 
learning to climb? Yes; but they consider in the business, learning 
a boy, that he is never thoroughly learned until the boys’ knees are 
hard after being sore; then they consider it necessary to put a pad 
on, from seeing the boys have bad knees; the children generally 
walk stiff-kneed.—Is it usual among the chimney sweepers to teach 
their boys to learn by means of pads? No; they learn them with 
nearly naked knees.—Is it done in one instance in twenty? No, nor 
one in fifty. —Lords’ Minutes, p. 32. 


According to the humanity of the master, the soot remains 
upon the bodies of the children, unwashed off, for any time 
from a week to a year. 


‘Are the boys generally washed regularly? No, unless they wash 
themselves.—Did not your master take care you were washed? 
No.—Not once in three months? No, not once a year.—Did not he 
find you soap? No; I can take my oath on the Bible that he never 
found me one piece of soap during the time I was apprentice.’ Lords’ 
Minutes, p. 41. 


The life of these poor little wretches is so miserable, that 
. they often lie sulking in the flues unwilling to come out. 


‘Did you ever see severity used to boys that were not obstinate 
and perverse? Yes.—Very often? Yes, very often. The boys are 
rather obstinate; some of them are; some of them will get half-way 
up the chimney, and will not go any further, and then the journey- 
man will swear at them to come down, or go on; but the boys are 
too frightened to come down; they halloo out, we cannot get up, and 
they are afraid to come down; sometimes they will send for another 
boy, and drag them down; sometimes get up to the top of the chim- 
ney, and throw down water, and drive them down; then, when they 
get them down, they will begin to drag, or beat, or kick them about 
the house; then, when they get home, the master will beat them all 
round the kitchen afterwards, and give them no breakfast perhaps.’— 
Lords’ Minutes, pp. 9, 10. 


When a chimney boy has done sufficient work for the mas- 
ter he must work for the man; and he thus becomes for seve- 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. 311 


ral hours after his morning’s work a perquisite to the journey- 
man. 


‘It is frequently the perquisite of the journeyman, when the first 
labour of the day on account of the master is finished, to “call the 
streets,” in search of employment on their own account, with the ap- 
prentices, whose labour is thus unreasonably extended, and whose 
limbs are weakened and distorted by the weights which they have to 
carry, and by the distance which they have to walk. John Lawless 
says, “I have known a boy to climb from twenty to thirty chimneys 
for his master in the morning; he has then been sent out instantly 
with the journeyman, who has kept him out till three or four o’clock, 
till he has accumulated from six to eight bushels of soot.” ’—Lords’ 
Report, p. 24. 


The sight of a little chimney sweeper often excites pity: 
and they have small presents made to them at the houses 
where they sweep. ‘These benevolent alms are disposed of 
in the following manner: 


‘Do the boys receive little presents of money from people often in 
your trade? Yes, it is in general the custom.—Are they allowed to 
keep that for their own use? Not the whole of it,—the journeymen 
take what they think proper. The journeymen are entitled to half by 
the master’s orders; and whatever a boy may get, if two boys and 
one journeyman are sent to a large house to sweep a number of 
chimneys, and after they have done, there should be a shilling, or 
eighteen pence given to the boys, the journeyman has his full half, 
and the two boys in general have the other.—Is it usual or customary 
for the journeymen to play at chuck farthing or other games with the 
boys? Frequently.—Do they win the money from the boys?  Fre- 
quently: the children give their money to the journeymen to screen 
for them.— What do you mean by screening? Sucha thing as sifting 
the soot. The child is tired, and he says, “Jem, I will give you two- 
pence if you will sift my share of the soot;” there is sometimes 
twenty or thirty bushels to sift. Do you think the boys retain one 
quarter of that given them for their own use? No.—Lords’ Minutes, 
p. 35 


To this most horrible list of calamities is to be added the 
dreadful deaths by which chimney sweepers are often de- 
stroyed. Of these we once thought of giving two examples ; 
one from London, the other from our own town of Edinburgh : 
but we confine ourselves to the latter. 


‘James Thomson, chimney-sweeper.—One day, in the beginning of 
June, witness and panel (that is, the master, the party accused) had 
been sweeping vents together. About fowr o’clock in the afternoon, 
the panel proposed to go to Albany street, where the panel’s brother 
was cleaning a vent, with the assistance of Fraser, whom he had 


312 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


borrowed from the panel for the occasion. When witness and panel 
got to the house in Albany street, they found Frazer, who had gone up 
the vent between eleven and twelve o’clock, not yet come down. On 
entering the house they found a mason making a hole in the wall. 
Panel said, what was he doing? I suppose he has taken a lazy fit. 
The panel called to the boy, “ What are you doing? what’s keeping 
you?” The boy answered that he could not come. The panel worked 
a long while, sometimes persuading him, sometimes threatening and 
Swearing at the boy to get him down. Panel then said, “ I will go to 
a hardware shop and get a barrel of gunpowder, and blow you and 
_the vent to the devil, if you do not come down.” Panel then began 
to slap at the wall—witness then went up a ladder, and spoke to the 
boy through a small hole in the wall previously made by the mason— 
but the boy did not answer. Panel’s brother told witness to come 
down, as the boy’s master knew best how to manage him. Witness 
then threw off his jacket, and put a handkerchief about his head, and 
said to the panel, let me go up the chimney to see what’s keeping 
him. The panel made no answer, but pushed witness away from the 
chimney, and continued bullying the boy. At this time the panel was 
standing on the grate, so that witness could not go up the chimney; 
witness then said to panel’s brother, there is no use for me here, 
meaning that panel would not permit him to use his services. He 
prevented the mason making the hole larger, saying, Stop, and Til 
bring him down in five minutes’ time. Witness then put on his 
jacket, and continued an hour in the room, during all which time the 
panel continued bullying the boy. Panel then desired witness to go 
to Reid’s house to get the loan of his boy Alison. Witness went 
to Reid’s house, and asked Reid to come and speak to panel’s brother. 
Reid asked if panel was there?. Witness answered he was; Reid 
said he would send his boy to the panel, but not to the panel’s brother. 
Witness and Reid went to Albany street; and when they got into the 
room, panel took his head out of the chimney and asked Reid if he 
would lend him his boy; Reid agreed; witness then returned to Reid’s 
house for his boy, and Reid called after him, “Fetch down a set of 
ropes with you.” By this time witness had been ten minutes in the 
room, during which time panel was swearing, and asking what’s 
keeping you, you scoundrel?’ When witness returned with the boy 
and ropes, Reid took hold of the rope, and having loosed it, gave 
Alison one end, and directed him to go up the chimney, saying, do not 
go farther than his feet, and when you get there fasten it to his foot. 
Panel said nothing all this time. Alison went up, and having fastened 
the rope, Reid desired him to come down; Reid took the rope and 
pulled, but did not bring down the boy; the rope broke! Alison was 
sent up again with the other end of the rope, which was fastened to 
the boy’s foot. When Reid was pulling the rope, panel said, “ You 
have not the strength of a cat;” he took the rope into his own hands, 
pulling as strong as he could. Having pulled about a quarter of an 
hour, panel and Reid fastened the rope round a crow bar, which they 
applied to the wall as a lever, and both pulled with all their strength - 
Sor about a quarter of an hour longer, when it broke. During this time 


CHIMNEY SWEEPERS. 313 


1? 


witness heard the boy cry, and say, “My God Almighty Panel 
said, “If I had you here, I would God Almighty you.” Witness 
thought the cries ‘were in agony. The master of the house brought 
a new piece of rope, and the panel’s brother spliced an eye on it. 
Reid expressed a wish to have it fastened on both thighs, to have 
greater purchase. Alison was sent up for this purpose, but came 
down, and said he could not get it fastened. Panel then began to 
Slap at the wall. After striking a long while at the wall, he got outa 
large stone; he then put in his head and called to Fraser; “Do you 
hear, you sir?” but got no answer: he then put in his hands, and 
threw down deceased’s breeches. He then came down from the lad- 
der. At this time the panel was in a state of perspiration: he sat 
down on a stool, and the master of the house gave him a dram. Wit- 
ness did not hear panel make any remarks as to the situation of the 
boy Fraser. Witness thinks that, from panel’s appearance, he knew 
that the boy was dead.’—Commons’ Report, pp. 1836—138. 


We have been thus particular in stating the case of the 
chimney sweepers, and in founding it upon the basis of facts, 
that we may make an answer to those profligate persons who 
are always ready to fling an air of ridicule upon the labours of 
humanity, because they are desirous that what they have not 
virtue to do themselves, should appear to be foolish and ro- 
mantic when done by others. A still higher degree of depra- 
vity than this, is to want every sort of compassion for humane 
misery, when it is accompanied by filth, poverty, and igno- 
rance,—to regulate humanity by the income tax, and to deem 
the bodily wretchedness and the dirty tears of the poor a fit 
subject for pleasantry and contempt. We should have been 
loath to believe, that such deep-seated and disgusting immo- 
rality existed in these days; but the notice of it is forced upon 
us. Nor must we pass over a set of marvellously weak gen- 
tlemen, who discover democracy and revolution in every 
effort to improve the condition of the lower orders, and to take 
off a little of the load of misery from those points where it 
presses the hardest. Such are the men into whose heart Mrs. 
Fry has struck the deepest terror,—who abhor Mr. Bentham 
and his penitentiary; Mr. Bennet and his hulks; Sir James 
Mackintosh and his bloodless assizes; Mr. ‘Tuke and his 
sweeping machines,—and every human being who is great 
and good enough to sacrifice his quiet to his love for his fellow 
creatures. Certainly we admit that humanity is sometimes 
the veil of ambition or of faction; but we have no doubt that 
there are a great many excellent persons to whom it is misery 
to see misery, and pleasure to lessen it; and who, by calling 

VOL, I1.—21 


314 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the public attention to the worst cases, and by giving birth to 
judicious legislative enactments for their improvement, have 
made, and are making, the world somewhat happier than they 
found it. Upon these principles we join hands with the friends 
of the chimney sweepers, and most heartily wish for the dimi- 
nution of their numbers, and the limitation of their trade. 

We are thoroughly convinced, there are many respectable 
master chimney sweepers; though we suspect their numbers 
have been increased by the alarm which their former tyranny 
excited, and by the severe laws made for their coercion: but 
even with good masters the trade is miserable,—with bad ones 
it is not to be endured; and the evidence already quoted shows 
us how many of that character are. to be met with in the occu- 
pation of sweeping chimneys. 

Afier all, we must own that it was quite right to throw out 
the bill for prohibiting the sweeping of chimneys by boys— 
because humanity is a modern invention; and there are many 
chimneys in old houses which cannot possibly be swept in any 
other manner. But the construction of chimneys should be 
attended to in some new building act; and the treatment of 
boys be watched over with the most severe jealousy of the 
law. Above all, those who have chimneys accessible to ma- 
chinery, should encourage the use of machines,* and not think 
it beneath their dignity to take a little trouble, in order to do 
a great deal of good. We should have been very glad to have 
seconded the views of the Climbing Society, and to have plead- 
ed for the complete abolition of climbing boys, if we could 
conscientiously have done so. But such a measure, we are 
convinced from the evidence, could not be carried into execution 
without great injury to property, and great increased risk of 
fire. ‘The lords have investigated the matter with the great- 
est patience, humanity, and good sense; and they do not 
venture, in their report, to recommend to the house the abo- 
lition of climbing boys. 


* The price of a machine is fifteen shillings. 


AMERICA. | 315 


AMERICA. (Epinnuren Review, 1820.) 


Statistical Annals of the United States of America. By Adam Seybert. 
4to. Philadelphia, 1818. 


Turis is a book of character and authority; but it is a very 
large book; and therefore we think we shall do an acceptable 
service to our readers, by presenting them with a short epitome . 
of its contents, observing the same order which has been cho- 
sen by the author. The whole, we conceive, will form a pretty 
complete picture of America, and teach us how to appreciate 
that country, either as a powerful enemy or a profitable friend. 
The first subject with which Mr. Seybert begins, is the popu- 
lation of the United States. 

Population.—As representatives and direct taxes are appor- 
tioned among the different states in proportion to their numbers, — 
it is provided for in the American constitution, that there shall 
be an actual enumeration of the people every ten years. It is 
the duty of the marshals in each state to number the inhabi- 
tants of their respective districts: and a correct copy of the 
lists, containing the names of the persons returned, must be 
set up in a public place within each district, before they are 
transmitted to the secretary of state:—they are then laid be- 
fore Congress by the President. Under this act three census, 
or enumerations of the people, have been already laid before 
Congress—for the years 1790, 1800, and 1810. In the year 
1790, the population of America was 3,921,326 persons, of 
whom 697,697 were slaves. In 1800, the numbers were 
5,319,762, of which 896,849 were slaves. In 1810, the num- 
bers were 7,239,903, of whom 1,191,364 were slaves; so that 
at a rate.at which free population has proceeded between 1790 
and 1810, it doubles itself, in the United States, in a very little 
more than 22 years. The slave population, according to its 
rate of proceeding in the same time, would be doubled in about 
26 years. ‘The increase of the slave population in this state- 
ment is owing to the importation of negroes between 1800 and 
1808, especially in 1806 and 1807, from the expected prohi- 


316 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


bition against importation. ‘The number of slaves was also 
increased by the acquisitions of territory in Louisiana, where 
they constituted nearly half the population. From 1801 to 
1811, the inhabitants of Great Britain acquired an augment- 
ation of 14 per cent.; the Americans, within the same period, 
were augmented 36 per cent. 

Emigration seems to be of very little importance to the 
United States. In the year 1817, by far the most considerable 
year of emigration, there arrived in ten of the principal ports 
of America, from the Old World, 22,000 persons as passengers. 
The number of emigrants, from 1790 to 1810, is not supposed _. 
to have exceeded 6000 per annum. None of the separate” 
States have been retrograde during these three enumerations, . 
though some have been nearly stationary. ‘The most remark- 
able increase is that of New York, which has risen from 340,- 
120 in the year 1790, to 959,049 in the year 1810. ‘The 
emigration from the Eastern to the Western States is calculated 
at 60,000 persons per annum. In all the American enumera- 
tions, the males uniformly predominate in the proportion of 
about 100 to 92. We are better off in Great Britain and Ire- 
land,—where the women were to the men, by the census of 
1811, as 110 to 100. ‘The density of population in the United 
States is less than 4 persons to a square mile; that of Holland, 
in 1803, was 275 to the square mile; that of England and 
Wales, 169. So that the fifteen provinces which formed the 
Union in 1810, would contain, if they were as thickly peopled 
as Holland, 135 millions souls. 

The next head is that of 7rade and Commerce.—In 1790, 
the Exports of the United States were above 19 millions of 
dollars; in 1791, above 20 millions; in 1792, 26 millions; in 
1793, 33 millions of dollars. ‘Prior to 1795, there was no 
discrimination, in the American treasury accounts, between 
the exportation of domestic, and the re-exportation of foreign 
articles. In 1795, the aggregate value of the merchandise 
exported was 67 millions of dollars, of which the foreign pro- 
duce re-exported was 26 millions. In 1800, the total value 
of exports was 94 millions; in 1805, 101 millions; and in 
1808, when they arrived at their maximum, 108 millions dol- 
lars. In the year 1809, from the effects of the French and 
English Orders in Council, the exports fell to 52 millions of 
dollars; in 1810 to 66 millions; in 1811, to 61 millions. In 
the first year of the war with England, to 38 millions; in the - 


AMERICA. 317 


second to 27; in the year 1814, when peace was made, to 6 
millions. So that the exports of the republic, in six years, 
had tumbled down from 108 to 6 millions of dollars: after the 
peace, in the years 1815-16-17, the exports rose to 52, 81, 87 
millions dollars. 

In 1817, the exportation of cotton was 85 millions pounds. 
In 1815, the sugar made on the banks of the Mississippi was 
10 millions pounds. In 1792, when the wheat trade was at 
the maximum, a million and a half of bushels were exported. 
The proportions of the exports to Great Britain, Spain, France, 

, Holland, and Portugal, on an average of ten years ending 1812, 
are as 27,16, 13, 12, and 7; the actual value of exports to the 
dominions of see Sirians in the three years ending 1804, 
were consecutively, in millions of dollars, 16, 17, 13. 

Imports.—In 1791, the imports of the United States were 
19 millions; on an average of three consecutive years, ending 
1804 inclusive, they were 68 millions; in 1806-7, they were 
138 millions; and in 1815, 133 millions of dollars. The 
annual value of the imports, on an average of three years 
ending 1804, was 75,000,000, of which the dominions of 
Great Britain furnished nearly one half. On an average of 
three years ending in 1804, America imported from Great 
Britain to the amount of about 36 millions, and returned goods 
to the amount of about 23 millions. Certainly these are coun- 
tries that have some better employment for their time and 
energy than cutting each other’s throats, and may meet for 
more profitable purposes.—The American imports from the 
dominions of Great Britain, before the great American war, 
amounted to about 3 millions sterling; soon after the war, to 
the same. From 1805 to 18!1, both inclusive, the average 
annual exportation of Great Britain to all parts of the world, 
in real value, was about 438 millions sterling, of which one 
fifth, or nearly 9 millions, was sent to America. 

Tonnage and Navigation.—Before the revolutionary war, 
the a evican tonnage, Sa ihee owned by British or American 
subjects, was about 127,000 tons; immediately after that war, 
108,000. In 1789, it had amounted to 437,733 tons, of which 
279,000 was American property. In 1790, the total was 605,- 
825, of which 354,000 was American. In 1816, the tonnage, 
all American, was 1,300,000. On an average of three years, 
from 1810 to 1812, both inclusive, the registered tonnage of 


318 WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 


the British empire was 2,459,000; or little more than double 
the American. 

Lands.—All public lands are surveyed before they are of- 
fered for sale; and divided into townships of six miles square, 
which are subdivided into thirty-six sections of one mile square, 
containing each 640 acres. ‘The following lands are excepted 
from the sales.—One thirty-sixth part of the lands, or a section 
of 640 acres in each: township, is uniformly reserved for the 
support of schools; seven entire townships, containing each 
23,000 acres, have been reserved in perpetuity for the support 
of learning: all salt springs and lead mines are also reserved. 
The Mississippi, the Ohio, and all the navigable rivers and 
waters leading into either, or into the river St. Lawrence, 
remain common highways, and for ever free to all the citizens 
of the United States, without payment of any tax. All the 
other public lands, not thus excepted, are offered for public 
sale in quarter sections of 160 acres, at a price not less than 
two dollars per acre, and as much more as they will fetch by 
public auction. It was formerly the duty of the seeretary of the 
treasury to superintend the sale of lands. In 1812, an office, 
denominated the General Land-Office, was instituted. The 
public lands sold prior to the opening of the land-offices, 
amounted to one million and a half of acres. The aggregate 
of the sales since the opening of the land-offices, N. W. of the 
river Ohio, to the end of September, 1817, amounted to 8,469,- 
644 acres; and the purchase-money to 18,000,000 dollars. 
The lands sold since the opening of the land-offices in the 
Mississippi territory, amount to 1,600,000 aeres. ‘The stock 
of unsold land on hand is aalutared at 400,000,000 acres. 
In the year 1817 there were sold above two millions acres. 

Post-Office.—In 1789, the number of post-offices in the 
United States was seventy-five; the amount of postage 38,000 
dollars; the miles of post-road 1800. In 1817, the number 
of post-oflices was 3,459; the amount of postage 961,000 
dollars; and the extent of post-roads 51,600 miles. 

Revenue.—The revenues of the United States are derived 
from the customs; from duties on distilled spirits, carriages, 
snuff, refined sugar, auctions, stamped paper, goods, wares, 
and merchandise manufactured within the United States, 
household furniture, gold and silver watches, and postage of 
letters; from moneys arising from the sale of public lands, and 
from fees on letters-patent. The following are the duties paid 


AMERICA. 319 


at the custom-house for some of the principal articles of import- 
ation :—7z per cent. on dyeing drugs, jewellery, and watch- 
work; 15 per cent. on hempen cloth, and on all articles manu- 
factured from iron, tin, brass, and lead—on buttons, buckles, 
china, earthenware, and glass, except window glass; 25 per ' 
cent. on cotton and woollen goods, and cotton twist; 30 per 
cent. on carriages, leather, and leather manufactures, dc. 

The average annual produce of the customs, between 1801 
and 1810, both inclusive, was about twelve millions dollars. 
In the year 1814, the customs amounted only to four millions s 
and, in the year 1815, the first year after the war, rose to 
thirty-seven millions. From 1789 to 1814, the customs have 
constituted 65 per cent. of the American revenues; loans 26 
per cent.; and all other branches 8 to 9 per cent. ‘They 
collect their customs at about 4 per cent.;—the English ex- 
pense of collection is 6/. 2s. 6d. per cent. 

The duty upon spirits is extremely trifling to the consumer 
—not a penny per gallon. ‘The number of distilleries is about 
15,000. ‘The licenses produce a very inconsiderable sum. 
The tax laid upon carriages in 1814, varied from fifty dollars 
to one dollar, according to the value of the machine. In the 
year 1801, there were more than fifteen thousand carriages of 
different descriptions paying duty. The furniture-tax seems 
to have been a very singular species of tax, laid on during the 
last war. It was an ad valorem duty upon all the furniture in 
any man’s possession, the value of which exceeded 600 dollars. 
Furniture cannot be estimated without domiciliary visits, nor 
domiciliary visits allowed without tyranny and vexation. An 
information laid against a new arm-chair, or a clandestine side- 
board—a search-warrant, and a conviction consequent upon it 
—have much more the appearance of English than American 
liberty. The license for a watch, too, is purely English. A 
truly free Englishman walks out covered with licenses. It is 
impossible to convict him. He has paid a guinea for his pow- 
dered head—a guinea for the coat of arms upon his seals—a 
three guinea license for the gun he carries upon his shoulder 
to shoot game; and is so fortified with permits and official 
sanctions, that the most eagle-eyed informer cannot obtain the 
most trifling advantage over him. 

America has borrowed, between 1791 and 1815, one hun- 
dred and seven millions of dollars, of which forty-nine millions 
were borrowed in 1813 and 1814, The internal revenue in 


320 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the year 1815 amounted to eight millions dollars; the gross 
revenue of the same year, including the loan, to fifty-one mil- 
lions dollars. 

Army.—During the late war with Great Britain, Congress 
authorized the raising of 62,000 men for the armies of the 
United States,—though. the actual number raised never 
amounted to half that force. In February, 1815, the army of 
the United States did not amount to more than 32,000 men; 
in January, 1814, to 23,000.* ‘The recruiting service, as may 
be easily conceived, where the wages of labour are so high, 
goes on very slowly in America. ‘The military peace estab- 
lishment was fixed in 1815 at 10,000 men. ‘The Americans 
are fortunately exempt from the insanity of garrisoning little 
rocks and islands all over the world; nor would they lavish 
rnillions upon the ignoble end of the Spanish Peninsula—the 
most useless and extravagant possession with which any 
European power was ever afflicted. In 1812, any recruit ho- 
nourably discharged from the service was allowed three months’ 
pay, and 160 acres of land. In 1814, every: non-commissioned 
officer, musician, and private, who enlisted and was afterwards 
honourably discharged, was allowed, upon such discharge, 320 
acres. ‘The enlistment was for five years, or during the war. 
The widow, child, or parent of any person enlisted, who was 
killed or died in the service of the United States, was entitled 
to receive the same bounty in land. 

Every free white male between eighteen and forty-five, is 
liable to be called out in the militia, which is stated, in official 
papers, to amount to 748,000 persons. 

Navy.—On the 8th of June, 1781, the Americans had only 
one vessel of war, the Alliance; and that was thought to be 
too expensive, it was sold! ‘The attacks of the Barbary pow- 
ers first roused them to form a navy; which, in 1797, amounted 
to three frigates. In 1814, besides a great increase of frigates, 
four seventy-fours were ordered to be built. In 1816, in con- 
sequence of some brilliant actions of their frigates, the naval 
service had become very popular throughout the United States. 
One million of dollars were appropriated annually, for eight 
years, to the gradual increase of the navy; nine seventy-fours,t 


* Peace with Great Britain was signed in December, 1814, at Ghent. 
+ The American seventy-four gun ships are as big as our first-rates, 
and their frigates nearly as big as ships of the line. 


AMERICA. 321 


and twelve forty-four gun ships were ordered to be built. 
Vacant and unappropriated lands belonging to the United 
States, fit to-produce oak and cedar, were to be selected for 
the use of the navy. The peace establishment of the marine 
corps was increased, and six navy yards were established. 
We were surprised to find Dr. Seybert complaining of a want 
of ship timber in America. ‘Many persons (he says) believe 
that our stock of live oak is very considerable; but upon good 
authority we have been told, in 1801, that supplies of live oak 
from Georgia will be obtained with great difficulty, and that 
the larger pieces are very scarce.’ In treating of naval affairs, 
Dr. Seybert, with a very different purpose in view, pays the 
following involuntary tribute to the activity and effect of our 
late naval warfare against the Americans. 


‘For a long time the majority of the people of the United States was 
opposed to an extensive and permanent naval establishment; and the 
force authorized by the legislature, until very lately, was intended for 
temporary purposes. A navy was considered to be beyond the finan- 
cial means of our country; and it was supposed the people would not 
submit to be taxed for its support. Our brilliant success in the late 
war has changed the public sentiment on this subject: many persons 
who formerly opposed the navy, now consider it as an essential means 
for our defence. The late transactions on the borders of the Chesa- 
peak bay, cannot be forgotten; the extent of that immense estuary en- 
abled the enemy to sail triumphant into the interior of the United 
States. For hundreds of miles along the shores of that great bay, our 
people were insulted; our towns were ravaged and destroyed; a con- 
siderable population was teased and irritated; depredations were 
hourly committed by an enemy whocould penetrate into the bosom of 
the country, without our being able to molest him whilst he kept on 
the water. By the time a sufficient force was collected, to check his 
operations in one Situation, his ships had already transported him to 
another, which was feeble, and offered a booty to him. An army 
could make no resistance to this mode of warfare; the people were 
annoyed; and they suffered in the field only to be satisfied of their ina- 
bility to check those who had the dominion upon our waters. The 
inhabitants who were in the immediate vicinity, were not alone affected 
by the enemy; his operations extended their influence to our great 
towns on the Atlantic coast; domestic intercourse and internal com- 
merce were interrupted, whilst that with foreign nations was, in some 
instances, entirely suspended. The treasury documents for 1814 ex- 
hibit the phenomenon of the state of Pennsylvania not being returned 
in the list of the exporting states. We were not only deprived of re- 
venue, but our expenditures were very much augmented. It is proba- 
ble the amount of the expenditures incurred on the borders of the 
Chesapeak, would have been adequate to provide naval means for the 
defence of those waters: the people might then have remained at home, 


322° WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


secure from depredation in the pursuit of their tranquil occupations. 
The expenses of the government, as well as of individuals, were very 
much augmented for every species of transportation. Every thing 
had to be conveyed by land carriage. Our communication with the 
ocean was cut off. One thousand dollars were paid for the transport- 
ation of each of the thirty-two pounder cannon from Washington city 
to Lake Ontario, for the public service. Our roads became almost 
impassable from the heavy loads which were carried over them. 
These facts should induce us, in times of tranquillity, to provide for 
the national defence, and execute such internal improvements as can- 
not be effected during the agitations of war.’-—(p. 679.) 


Expenditure.—The President of the United States receives 
about 6000/. a year; the Vice-President about 6001. ; the depu- 
ties to Congress have 8 dollars per day, and 8 dollars for every 
20 miles of journey. ‘The first clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives receives about 750/. per annum; the Secretary of 
State, 1200/.; the Postmaster-General, 750/.; the Chief Jus- 
tice of the United States, 1000/.; a Minister Plenipotentiary, 
2200/. per annum. ‘There are, doubtless, reasons why there 
should be two noblemen appointed in this country as Postmas- 
ters-General, with enormous salaries, neither of whom know a 
twopenny post letter from a general one, and where further re- 
trenchments are stated to be impossible. ‘This is clearly a 
case to which that impossibility extends. But these are mat- 
ters where a prostration of understanding is called for; and 
good subjects are not to reason, but to pay. If, however, we 
were ever to indulge in the Saxon practice of looking into our 
own affairs, some important documents might be derived from 
these American salaries. Jonathan, for instance, sees no rea- 
son why the first clerk of his House of Commons should de- 
rive emoluments from his situation to the amount of 6000/. or 
7000/. per annum; but Jonathan is vulgar, and arithmetical. 
The total expenditure of the United States varied, between 
1799 and 1811, both inclusive, from 11 to 17 millions dollars. 
From 1812 to 1814, both inclusive, and all these years of war 
with this country, the. expenditure was consecutively 22, 29, 
and 38 millions dollars. The total expenditure of the United 
States, for 14 years from 1791 to 1814, was 333 millions dol- 
lars ; of which, in the three last years of war with this country, 
from 1812 to 1814, there were expended 100 millions of dol- 
lars, of which only 35 were supplied by revenue, the rest by 
loans and government paper. ‘The sum total received by the 
American treasury from the 3d of March, 1789, to the 31st of 


AMERICA. 323. 


March, 1816, is 354 millions dollars; of which 107 millions 
have been raised by loan, and 222 millions by the customs and 
tonnage: so that, exclusive of the revenue derived from loans, 
222 parts out of 247 of the American revenue have been de- 
rived from foreign commerce. In the mind of any sensible 
American, this consideration ought to prevail over the few 
splendid actions of their half dozen frigates, which must, in a 
continued war, have been, with all their bravery and activity, 
swept from the face of the ocean by the superior force and 
equal bravery of the English. It would be the height of mad- 
ness in America to run into another naval war with this coun- 
try, if it could be averted by any other means than a sacrifice 
of proper dignity and character. They have, comparatively, 
no land revenue; and, in spite of the Franklin and Guerriere, 
though lined with cedar and mounted with brass cannon, they 
must soon be reduced to the same state which has been de- 
scribed by Dr. Seybert, and from which they were so oppor- 
tunely extricated by the treaty of Ghent. David Porter and 
Stephen Decatur are very brave men; but they will prove an 
unspeakable misfortune to their country, if they inflame Jona- 
than into a love of naval glory, and inspire him with any other 
love of war than that which is founded upon a determination 
not to submit to serious insult and injury. 

We can inform Jonathan what are the inevitable conse- 
quences of being too fond of glory ;—TaxeEs upon every ar- 
ticle which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is 
placed under the foot—taxes upon every thing which it is 
pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste—taxes upon warmth, 
light, and locomotion—taxes on every thing on earth, and 
the waters under the earth—on every thing that comes from 
abroad, or is grown at home—tazes on the raw material— 
taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry 
of man—tazxes on the sauce which pampers man’s appetite, 
and the drug that restores him to health—on the ermine 
which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the 
criminal—on the poor man’s salt, and the rich man’s spice— 
on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride— 
at bedor board, couchant or levant, we must pay.—- The school- 
boy whips his taxed top—the beardless youth manages his 
taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road :—and the 
dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid 7 
per cent., into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent.,—/fiings 


324 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid 22 per 
cent.,—and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has 

paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting 
‘ him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed 
from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are 
demanded for burying him in the chancel ; his virtues are 
handed down to posterity on taxed marble; and he is then 
gathered to his fathers,—to be taxed no more. In addition to 
all this, the habit. of dealing with large sums will make the 
government avaricious and profuse; and the system itself 
will infallibly generate the base vermin of spies and informers, 
and a still more pestilent race of political tools and retainers of 
the meanest and most odious description ;--while the prodigious 
patronage which the collecting of this splendid revenue will 
throw into the hands of government, will invest it with so 
vast an influence, and hold out such means and temptations to 
corruption, as all the virtne and public spirit, even of republic- 
ans, will be unable to resist. 

Every wise Jonathan should remember this, when he sees 
the rabble huzzaing at the heels of the truly respectable 
Decatur, or inflaming the vanity of that still more popular 
leader, whose justification has lowered the character of his 
government with all the civilized nations of the world. 

Debt.—America owed 42 millions dollars after the Revo- 
lutionary war; in 1790, 79 millions; in 1803, 70 millions; 
and in the beginning of January, 1812, the public debt was 
diminished to 45 millions dollars. After the last war with 
England, it had risen to 123 millions; and so it stood on the 
Ist of January, 1816. The total amount carried to the credit 
of the commissioners of the sinking fund, on the 31st of De- 
cember, 1816, was about 34 millions of dollars. 

Such is the land of Jonathan——and thus has it been governed. 
In his honest endeavours to better his situation, and in his 
manly purpose of resisting injury and insult, we most cordially 
sympathize. We hope he will always continue to watch and 
suspect his government as he now does—-remembering, that it 
is the constant tendency of those entrusted with power, to 
conceive that they enjoy it by their own merits, and for their 
own use, and not by delegation, and for the benefit of others. 
Thus far we are the friends and admirers of Jonathan. But he 
must not grow vain and ambitious; or allow himself to be 
dazzled by that galaxy of epithets by which his orators and . 


AMERICA. 325 


newspaper scribblers endeavour -to persuade their supporters 
that they are the greatest, the most refined, the most en- 
lightened, and most moral people upon earth. The effect of 
this is unspeakably ludicrous on this side of the Atlantic— 
and, even on the other, we shall imagine, must be rather 
humiliating to the reasonable part of the population. The 
Americans are a brave, industrious and acute people; but they 
have hitherto given no indications of genius, and made no 
approaches to the heroic, either in their morality or character. 
They are but a recent offset indeed from England; and should 
make it their chief boast, for many generations to come, that 
they are sprung from the same race with Bacon and Shak- 
speare and Newton. Considering their numbers, indeed, and 
the favourable circumstances in which they have been placed, 
they have. yet done marvellously little to assert the honour of 
such a descent, or to show that their English blood has been 
exalted or refined by their republican training and institutions. 
Their Franklins and Washingtons, and all the other sages and 
heroes of their Revolution, were born and bred subjects of the 
King of England,—and not among the freest or most valued 
of his subjects. And since the period of their separation, a 
far greater proportion of their statesmen and artists and politi- 
cal writers have been foreigners, than ever occurred before in 
the history of any civilized and educated people. During the 
thirty or forty years of their independence, they have done 
absolutely nothing for the Sciences, for the Arts, for Literature, 
or even for the statesman-like studies of Politics or Political 
Economy. Confining ourselves to our own country, and to the 
period that has elapsed since they had an independent exist- 
ence, we would ask, Where are their Foxes, their Burkes, their 
Sheridans, their Windhams, their Horners, their Wilberforces ? 
—where their Arkwrights, their Watts, their Davys?—their 
Robertsons, Blairs, Smiths, Stewarts, Paleys, and Malthuses ? 
—-their Porsons, Parrs, Burneys, or Bloomfields ?— their 
Scotts, Rogers’s, Campbells, Byrons, Moores, or Crabbes? 
--- their Siddons’s, Kembles, Keans, or O’ Neils? —- their 
Wilkies, Lawrences, Chantrys?—or their parallels to the 
hundred other names that have spread themselves over the 
world from our little island in the course of the last thirty years, 
and blest or delighted mankind by their works, inventions, 
or examples? In so far as we know, there is no such parallel 
to be produced from the whole annals of this self-adulating 


326 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


race. In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an Ameri- 
can book? or goes to an American play? or looks at an 
American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to 
American physicians or surgeons ? What new substances have 
their chemists discovered? or what old ones have they ana- 
lyzed? What new constellations have been discovered by the 
telescopes of Americans? What have they done in the mathe- 
matics? Who drinks out of American glasses? or.eats from 
American plates? or wears American coats or gowns? orsleeps 
in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyran- 
nicabgovernments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom 
his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture? 

When these questions are fairly and favourably answered, 
their laudatory epithets may be allowed: but till that can be 
done, we would seriously advise them to keep clear of super- 
latives. 


IRELAND. : 327 


IRELAND. (Epinsuren Review, 1820.) 


1, Whitelaw’s History of the City of Dublin. 4to. Cadell and Davies. 

2. Observations on the State of Ireland, principally directed to its Agri- 
culture and Rural Population; in a Series of Letters written on a 
Tour through that Country. In 2 vols. By J. C. Curwen, Esq., M. 
P. London, 1818. 

3. Gamble’s Views of Society in Ireland. 


TueEss are all the late publications that treat of Irish interests 
in general,—and none of them are of first-rate importance. 
Mr. Gamble’s Travels in Ireland are of a very ordinary de- 
scription—low scenes and low humour making up the princi- 
pal part of the narrative. ‘There are readers, however, whom 
it will amuse; and the reading market becomes more and more 
extensive, and embraces a greater variety of persons every day. 
Mr. Whitelaw’s History of Dublin is a book ef great accuracy 
and research, highly creditable to the industry, good sense, 
and benevolence of its author. Of the Travels of Mr. Chris- 
tian Curwen, we hardly know what to say. He is bold and 
honest in his politics—a great enemy to abuses—vapid in his 
levity and pleasantry, and infinitely too much inclined to de- 
claim upon commonplace topics of morality and benevolence. 
But, with these drawbacks, the book is not ill written; and 
may be advantageously read by those who are desirous of in- 
formation upon the present state of Ireland. 

So great, and so long has been the misgovernment of that 
country, that we verily believe the empire would be much 
stronger, if every thing was open sea between England and 
the Atlantic, and if skates and codfish swam over the fair land 
of Ulster. Such jobbing, such profligacy—so much direct 
tyranny and oppression—such an abuse of God’s gifts—such 
a profanation of God’s name for the purposes of bigotry and 
party spirit, cannot be exceeded in the history of civilized 
Europe, and will long remain a monument of infamy and 
shame to England. But it will be more useful to suppress 
the indignation which the very name of Ireland inspires, and 


328 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


to consider impartially those causes which have marred this 
fair portion of the creation, and kept it wild and savage in the 
midst of improving Europe. 

The great misfortune of Ireland is, that the mass of the 
people have been given up for a century to a handful of Pro- 
testants, by whom they have been treated as Helots, and 
subjected to every species of persecution and disgrace. The 
sufferings of the Catholics have been so loudly chanted in the 
very streets, that it is almost needless to remind our readers 
that, during the reigns of George I. and George II., the Irish 
Roman Catholics were disabled from holding any civil or 
military office, from voting at elections, from admission into 
corporations, from practising law or physic. A younger 
brother, by turning Protestant, might deprive his elder brother 
of his birth-right: by the same process, he might force his 
father, under the name of a liberal provision, to yield up to 
him a part of his landed property; and, if an eldest son, he 
might, in the same way, reduce his father’s fee-simple to a life 
estate. A Papist was disabled from purchasing freehold lands 
—and even from holding long leases—and any person might 
take his Catholic neighbour’s house by paying 5/. for it. If 
the child of a Catholic father turned Protestant, he was taken 
away from his father and put into the hands of a Protestant 
relation. No Papist could purchase a freehold, or lease for 
more than thirty years—or inherit from an intestate Protestant 
—nor from an intestate Catholic—nor dwell in Limerick or 
Galway—nor hold an advowson, nor buy an annuity for life. 
50/. was given for discovering a popish archbishop—30l. for 
a popish clergyman—and 10s. for a schoolmaster. No one 
was allowed to be trustee for Catholics; no Catholic was 
allowed to take more than two apprentices; no Papist to be 
solicitor, sheriff, or to serve on grand juries. Horses of Pa- 
pists might be seized for the militia; for which militia Papists 
were to pay double, and to find Protestant substitutes. Pa- 
pists were prohibited from being present at vestries, or from 
being high or petty constables; and, when resident in towns, 
they were compelled to find Protestant watchmen. Barristers 
and solicitors marrying Catholics, were exposed to the penal- 
ties of Catholics. Persons plundered by privateers during a 
war with any Popish prince, were reimbursed by a levy on 
the Catholic inhabitants where they lived. All popish priests 


IRELAND. 329 


celebrating marriages contrary to 12 Geo. I. cap. 3, were to 
be hanged. 

The greater part of these incapacities are removed, though 
many of a very serious and oppressive nature still remain. 
But the grand misfortune is, that the spirit which these op- 
pressive laws engendered remains. ‘The Protestant still looks 
upon the Catholic as a degraded being. ‘The Catholic does 
not yet consider himself upon an equality with his former 
tyrant and taskmaster. That religious hatred which required 
all the prohibiting vigilance of the law for its restraint, has 
found in the law its strongest support; and the spirit which 
the law first exasperated and embittered, continues to act long 
after the original stimulus is withdrawn. ‘The law which 
prevented Catholics from serving on grand juries is repealed ; 
but Catholics are not called upon grand juries in the propor- 
tion in which they are entitled, by their rank and fortune. 
The Duke of Bedford did all he could to give them the benefit 
of those laws which are already passed in their favour. But 
power is seldom entrusted in this country to one of the Duke 
of Bedford’s liberality ; and every thing has fallen back in the 
hands of his successors into the ancient division of the privi- 
leged and degraded castes. We do not mean to cast any 
reflection upon the present Secretary for Ireland, whom we 
believe to be upon this subject a very liberal politician, and on 
all subjects an honourable and excellent man. ‘The govern- 
ment under which he serves allows him to indulge in a little 
harmless liberality ; but it is perfectly understood .that nothing 
is intended to be done for the Catholies; that no loaves and 
fishes will be lost by indulgence in Protestant insolence and 
tyranny ; and, therefore, among the generality of Irish Pro- 
testants, insolence, tyranny, and exclusion continue to operate. 
However eligible the Catholic may be, he is not elected ; 
whatever barriers may be thrown down, he does not advance 
astep. He was first kept out by law; he is now kept out by 
opinion and habit. ‘Chey have been so long in chains, that 
nobody believes they are capable of using their hands and feet. 

It is not however the only or the worst misfortune of the 
Catholics, that the relaxations of the law are hitherto of little 
benefit to them; the law is not yet sufficiently relaxed. A 
Catholic, as every body knows, cannot be made sheriff; can- 
not be in Parliament; cannot be a director of the Irish Bank; 
cannot fill the great departments of the law, the army, and the 

VOL, I.—22 


330 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


navy; is cut off from all the high objects of human ambition, 
and treated as a marked and degraded person. 

The common admission now is, that the Catholies are to 
the Protestants in Ireland as about 4 to 1—of which Pro- 
testants, not more than one half belong to the Church of 
Ireland. This, then, is one of the most striking features in 
the state of Ireland. ‘That the great mass of the population is 
completely subjugated and overawed by a handful of com- 
paratively recent settlers,—in whom all the power and patron- 
age of the country is vested,— who have been reluctantly com- 
pelled to desist from still greater. abuses of authority,—and 
who look with trembling apprehension to the increasing libe- 
rality of the Parliament and the country towards these ‘wnfor- 
tunate persons whom they have always looked upon as their 
property and their prey. 

Whatever evils may result from these proportions between 
_ the oppressor and the oppressed—to whatever dangers a coun- 

try so situated may be considered to be exposed—these evils 
and dangers are rapidly increasing in Ireland. The proportion 
of Catholics to Protestants is infinitely greater now than it was 
thirty years ago, and is becoming more and more favourable 
to the former. By a return made to the Irish House of Lords 
in 1732, the proportion of Catholics to Protestants was not 2 
to 1. It is now (as we have already observed) 4 to 1; and 
the causes which have thus altered the proportion in favour of 
the Catholics, are sufficiently obvious to any one acquainted 
with the state of Ireland. ‘The Roman Catholic priest resides; - 
his income entirely depends upon the number of his flock ; 
and he must exert himself, or he starves. ‘There is some 
chance of success, therefore, in his efforts to convert; but the 
Protestant clergyman, if he were equally eager, has little or no 
probability of persuading so much larger a proportion of the 
population to come over to his church. ‘The Catholic clergy- 
man belongs to a religion that has always been more desirous 
of gaining proselytes than the Protestant church; and he is 
animated by a sense of injury and a desire of revenge. 
Another reason for the disproportionate increase of Catholics 
is, that the Catholics will marry upon means which the Pro- 
testant considers as insufficient for marriage. A few potatoes 
and a shed of turf, are all that Luther has left for the Romanist; 
and, when the latter gets these, he instantly begins upon the 
great Irish manufacture of children. But a Protestant belongs 
to the sect that eats the fine flour, and leaves the bran to others; 


IRELAND, 331 


he must have comforts, and he does not marry till he gets 
them. He would be ashamed, if he were seen living as a 
Catholic lives. ‘This is the principal reason why the Pro- 
testants who remain attached to their church do not increase 
so fast as the Catholics. But in common minds, daily scenes, 
the example of the majority, the power of imitation, decide 
their habits, religious as well as civil. A Protestant labourer 
who works among Catholics, soon learns to think and act and 
talk as they do—he is not proof against the eternal panegyric 
which he hears of Father O’Leary. His Protestantism is 
rubbed away; and he goes at last, after some little resistance, 
to the chapel, where he sees every body else going. 

These eight Catholics not only hate the ninth man, the 
Protestant of the Establishment, for the unjust privileges he 
enjoys—not only remember that the lands of their father were 
given to his father—but they find themselves forced to pay for 
the support of his religion. In the wretched state of poverty 
in which the lower orders of Irish are plunged, it is not with- 
out considerable effort that they can pay the few shillings 
necessary for the support of their Catholic priest; and when 
this is effected, a tenth of the potatoes in the garden are to be 
set out for the support of a persuasion, the introduction of 
which into Ireland they consider as the great cause of their 
political inferiority, and all their manifold wretchedness. In 
England, a labourer can procure constant employment—or he 
can, at the worst, obtain relief from his parish. Whether tithe 
operates as a tax upon him, is known only to the political 
economist: if he does pay it, he does not know that he pays 
it; and the burthen of supporting the clergy is at least kept 
out of his view. But, in Ireland, the only method in which a 
poor man lives, is by taking a small portion of land, in which 
he can grow potatoes: seven or eight months out of twelve, in 
many parts of Ireland, there is no constant employment of the 
poor: and the potato farm is all that shelters them from abso- 
lute famine. If the Pope were to come in person, and seize 
upon every tenth potato, the poor peasant would scarcely 
endure it. With what patience, then, can he see it tossed 
into the cart of the heretic Rector, who has a church without 
a congregation, and a revenue without duties? 

We do not say whether these things are right or wrong— 
whether they want a remedy at all—or what remedy they 
want; but we paint them in those colours in which they appear 


332 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


to the eye of poverty and ignorance, without saying whether 
those colours are false or true. Nor is the case at all com- 
parable to that of Dissenters paying tithe in England; which 
case is precisely the reverse of what happens in Ireland, for it 
is the contribution of a very small minority to the religion of 
a very large majority; and the numbers on either side make 
all the difference in the argument. ‘To exasperate the poor 
Catholic still more, the rich graziers of the parish—or the 
squire in his parish—pay no tithe at all for their grass land. 
Agistment tithe is abolished in Ireland; and the burthen of 
supporting two churches seems to devolve upon the poorer 
Catholics, struggling with plough and spade in small scraps of 
dearly-rented Jand. ‘Tithes seem to be collected in a more 
harsh manner than they are collected in England. ‘The minute 
subdivisions of land in Ireland—the little connection which the 
Protestant clergyman commonly has with the Catholic popu- 
lation of his parish, have made the introduction of tithe proc- 
tors very general—sometimes as the agent of the clergyman— 
sometimes as the lessee or middleman between the clergyman 
and the cultivator of the land; but, in either case, practised, 
dexterous estimators of tithe. ‘The English clergymen, in 
general, are far from exacting the whole of what is due to 
them, but sacrifice a little to the love of popularity, or to the 
dread of odium. A system of tithe-proctors established all 
over England (as it is in Ireland,) would produce general dis- 
gust and alienation from the Established Church. 

‘During the administration of Lord Halifax, says Mr. Hardy, in 
quoting the opinion of Lord Charlemont upon tithes paid by Catho- 
lics, ‘Ireland was dangerously disturbed in its southern and northern 
regions. In the south principally, in the counties of Kilkenny, Lime- 
rick, Cork, and Tipperary, the White Boys now made their first 
appearance; those White Boys, who have ever since occasionally 
disturbed the public tranquillity, without any rational method having 
been as yet pursued to eradicate this disgraceful evil. When we 
consider, that the very-same district has been for the long space of 
seven-and-twenty years liable to frequent returns of the same disorder 
into which it has continually relapsed, in spite of all the violent reme- 
dies from time to time administered by our political quacks, we can- 
not doubt but that some real, peculiar, and topical cause must exist; 
and yet, neither the removal, nor even the investigation of this cause, 
has ever once been seriously attempted. Laws of the most sanguinary 
and unconstitutional nature have been enacted; the country has been 
disgraced, and exasperated by frequent and bloody executions; and 
the gibbet, that perpetual resource of weak and cruel legislators, has 
groaned under the multitude of starving criminals: yet, while the 
cause is suffered to exist, the effects will ever follow. The amputation 


IRELAND. 333 


of limbs will never eradicate a prurient humour, which must be sought 
in its source, and there remedied.’ 

‘I wish,’ continues Mr. Wakefield, ‘for the sake of humanity, and 
for the honour of the Irish character, that the gentlemen of that coun- 
try would take this matter into their serious consideration. Let them 
only for a moment place themselves in the situation of the half-fam- 
ished cotter, surrounded by a wretched family, clamorous for food; 
and judge what his feelings must be, when he sees the tenth part of 
the produce of his potato garden exposed at harvest time to public 
cant; or, if he have given a promissory note for the payment of a cer- 
tain sum of money, to compensate for such tithe when it becomes due, 
to hear the heart-rending cries of his offspring clinging round him, 
and lamenting for the milk of which they are deprived, by the cows 
being driven to the pound, to be sold to discharge the debt. Such ac- 
counts are not the creation of fancy; the facts do exist, and are but 
too common in Ireland. Were one of them transferred to canvass by 
the hand of genius, and exhibited to English humanity, that heart must 
be callous indeed that could refuse its sympathy. I haveseen thecow, 
the favourite cow, driven away, accompanied by the sighs, the tears, 
and the imprecations of a whole family, who were paddling after, 
through wet and dirt, to take their last affectionate farewell of this 
their only friend and benefactor, at the pound gate. I have heard 
with emotions which I can scarcely describe, deep curses repeated 
from village to village as the cavalcade proceeded. I have witnessed 
_ the group pass the domain walls of the opulent grazier, whose nume- 
rous herds were cropping the most luxuriant pastures, while he was 
secure from any demand for the tithe of their food, looking on with 
the most unfeeling indifference.’ —— Wake/field, p. 486. 


In Munster, where tithe of potatoes is exacted, risings against 
the system have constantly occurred during the last forty years. 
In Ulster, where no such tithe is required, these insurrections 
are unknown. ‘The double church which Ireland supports, 
and that painful visible contribution towards it which the poor 
Irishman is compelled to make from his miserable pittance, is 
one great cause of those never ending insurrections, burnings, 
murders, and robberies, which have laid waste that ill-fated 
country for so many years. ‘The unfortunate consequence of 
the civil disabilities, and the church payments under which 
the Catholics labour, is a rooted antipathy to this country. 
They hate the English government from historical recollection, 
actual suffering, and disappointed hope ; and till they are better 
treated, they will continue to hate it. At this moment, in a 
period of the most profound peace, there are twenty-five thou- 
sand of the best disciplined and best appointed troops in the 
world in Ireland, with bayonets fixed, presented arms, and in 
the attitude of present war: nor is there a man too much—nor 


334 WORKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 


would Ireland be tenable without them. When it was neces- 
sary last year (or thought necessary) to put down the children 
of reform, we were forced to make a new levy of troops in this 
country—not a man could be spared from Ireland. ‘The mo- 
ment they had embarked, Peep-of-day Boys, Heart-of-Oak 
Boys, Twelve-o’clock Boys, Heart-of-Flint Boys, and all the 
bloody boyhood of the Bog of Allen, would have proceeded 
to the ancient work of riot, rapine, and disaffection. Ireland, 
in short, till her wrongs are redressed, and a more liberal po- 
licy is adopted towards her, will always be a cause of anxiety 
and suspicion to this country; and, in some moment of our 
weakness and depression, will forcibly extort what she would 
now receive with gratitude and exultation. 

Ireland is situated close to another island of greater size, 
speaking the same language, very superior in civilization, and 
the seat of government. ‘The consequence of this is the emi- 
_ gration of the richest and most powerful part of the community 

—a vast drain of wealth—and the absence of all that wholesome 
influence which the representatives of ancient families residing 
upon their estates, produce upon their tenantry and dependants. 
Can any man imagine that the scenes which have been acted 
in Ireland within these last twenty years, would have taken 
place, if such vast proprietors as the Duke of Devonshire, the 
Marquis of Hertford, the Marquis of Lansdown, Earl Fitz- 
william, and many other men of equal wealth, had been in the 
constant habit of residing upon their Irish, as they are upon 
their English estates? Is it of no consequence to the order, 
and the civilization of a large district, whether the great man- 
sion is inhabited by an insignificant, perhaps a mischeivous, 
attorney, in the shape of agent, or whether the first and 
greatest men of the United Kingdoms, after the business of 
Parliament is over, come with their friends and families, to 
exercise hospitality, to spend large revenues, to diffuse infor- 
mation, and to improve manners? ‘This evil is a very serious 
one to Ireland; and, as far as we see, incurable. For if the 
present large estates were, by the dilapidation of families, to be 
broken to pieces and sold, others equally great would, in the 
free circulation of property, speedily accumulate ; and the mo- 
ment any possessor arrived at a certain pitch of fortune, he 
would probably choose to reside in the better country,—near 
the Parliament or the court. 

This absence of great proprietors in Ireland necessarily 


snes Nan 335 


brings with it, or if not necessarily, has actually brought with 
it, the employment of middlemen, which forms one other stand- 
ing and regular Irish grievance. We are well aware of all 
that can be said in defence of middlemen; that they stand be- 
tween the little farmer and the great proprietor, as the shop- 
keeper does between the manufacturer and consumer; and, in 
fact, by their intervention, save time, and therefore expense. 
This may be true enough in the ‘abstract; but the particular 
nature of land must be attended to. The object of the man 
who makes cloth is to sell his cloth at the present market, for 
as high a price as he can obtain. If that price is too high, it 
soon falls; but no injury is done to his machinery by the su- 
perior price he has enjoyed for a season—he is just as able to 
produce cloth with it, as if the profits he enjoyed had always 
been equally moderate: he has no fear, therefore, of the mid- 
dleman, or of any species of moral machinery which may help 
to obtain for him the greatest present prices. ‘The same would 
be the feeling of any one who let out a steam engine, or any 
other machine, for the purposes of manufacture; he would na- 
turally take the highest price he could get: for he might either 
let his machine for a price proportionate to the work it did, 
or the repairs, estimable with the greatest precision, might be 
thrown upon the tenant; in short, he could hardly ask any rent 
too high for his machine which a responsible person would 
give; dilapidation would be so visible, and so calculable in such 
instances, that any secondary lease, or subletting, would be 
rather an increase of security than a source of alarm. Any 
evil from such a practice would be improbable, measurable, 
and remediable. In land, on the contrary, the object is not to 
get the highest prices absolutely, but to get the highest prices 
which will not injure the machine. One tenant may offer and 
pay double the rent of another, and ina few years leave the land 
in a state which will effectually bar all future offers of tenancy. 
It is of no use to fill a lease full of clauses and covenants; a 
tenant who pays more than he ought to pay, or who pays even 
to the last farthing which he ought to pay, will rob the land, 
and injure the machine, in spite of all the attorneys in England. 
He will rob it even if he means to remain upon it—driven on 
by present distress, and anxious to put off the day of defal- 
cation and arrear. ‘The damage is often difficult of detection 
—not easily calculated, not easily to be proved ; such for which 
juries (themselves perhaps farmers) will not willingly give 


336 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 

sufficient compensation. And if this is true in England, ‘it is 
much more strikingly true in Ireland, where it is, extremely 
difficult to obtain verdicts for breaches of covenant in leases. 

The only method then of guarding the machine from real 
injury is, by giving to the actual occupier such advantage in 
his contract, that he is unwilling to give it up—that he has a 
real interest in retaining it, and is not driven by the distresses 
of the present moment to destroy the future productiveness of 
the soil. Any rent which the landlord accepts more than this, 
or any system by which more rent than this is obtained, is to 
borrow money upon the most usurious and profligate interest 
—to increase the revenue of the present day by the absolute 
ruin of the property. Such is the effect produced by a middle- 
man: he gives high prices that he may obtain higher from the 
occupier; more is paid by the actual occupier than is consistent 
with the safety and preservation of the machine; the land is 
run out, and, in the end, that maximum of rent we have described 
is not obtained; and not only is the property injured by such 
a system, but in Ireland the most shocking consequences ensue 
from it. ‘There is litthke manufacture in Ireland; the price of 
labour is low, the demand for labour irregular. Ifa poor man 
is driven, by distress of rent, from his potato garden, he has 
no other resource—all is lost: he will do the impossible (as 
the French say) to retain it; and subscribe any bond, and pro- 
mise anyrent. ‘The middleman has no character to lose ; and 
he knew, when he took up the occupation, that it was one 
with which pity had nothing to do. On he drives; and back- 
ward the poor peasant recedes, losing something at every step, 
till he comes to the very brink of despair; and then he recoils 
and murders his oppressor, and is a White Boy or a Right 
Boy :—the soldier shoots him, and the judge hangs him. 

In the debate which took place in the Irish House of Com- 
mons, upon the bill for preventing tumultuous risings and 
assemblies, on the 31st of January, 1787, the Attorney-Gene- 
ral submitted to the House the following narrative of facts. 

‘The commencement,’ said he, ‘was in one or two parishes in the 
county of Kerry; and they proceeded thus. The people assembled in 
a Catholic chapel, and there took an oath to obey the laws of Captain 
Right, and to starve the clergy. They then proceeded to the next 
parishes, on the following Sunday, and there swore the people in the 
same manner; with this addition, that they (the people last sworn) . 


should on the ensuing Sunday proceed to the chapels of their next 
neighbouring parishes, and swear the inhabitants of those parishes 


IRELAND. 337 


in like manner. Proceeding in this manner, they very soon went 
through the province of Munster. The first object was, the reforma- 
tion of tithes. ‘They swore not to give more than a certain price per 
acre; not to assist, or allow them to be assisted, in drawing the tithe, 
and to permit xo proctor. They next took upon them to prevent the 
collection of parish cesses; next to nominate parish clerks, and in 
some cases curates: to say what church should or should not be re- 
paired; and in one case to threaten that they would burn a new 
church, if the o/d one were not given for a mass-house. At last, they 
proceeded to regulate the price of lands; to raise the price of labour; 
and to oppose the collection of the hearth money, and other taxes. 
Bodies of 5000 of them have been seen to march through the country 
unarmed, and if met by any magistrate, they never offered the smallest 
rudeness or offence ; on the contrary, they had allowed persons charged 
with crimes to be taken from amongst them by the magistrate alone, 
unaided by any force.’ 

‘The Attorney-General said he was well acquainted with the pro- 
vince of Munster, and that it was impossible for human wretchedness 
to exceed that of the peasantry of that province. The unhappy tenantry 
were ground to powder by relentless landlords; that, far from being 
able to give the clergy their just dues, they had not food or raiment 
for themselves—the landlord grasped the whole; and sorry was he 
to add, that, not satisfied with the present extortion, some landlords 
had been so base as to instigate the insurgents to-rob the clergy of 
their tithes, not in order to alleviate the distresses of the tenantry, but 
that they might add the clergy’s share to the cruel rack-rents they 
already paid. The poor people of Munster lived in a more abject state 
of poverty than human nature could be supposed equal to bear.’—Grat- 
tan’s Speeches, vol. i. 292. 


We are not, of course, in such a discussion, to be governed 
by names. A middleman might be tied up, by the strongest 
legal restriction, as to the price he was to exact from the under- 
tenants, and then he would be no more pernicious to the estate 
than asteward. A steward might be protected in exactions as 
severe as the most rapacious middleman ; and then, of course, 
it would be the same thing under another name. ‘The prac- 
tice to which we object is, the too common method in Ireland 
of extorting the last farthing which the tenant is willing to give 
for land, rather than quit it: and the machinery by which such 
practice is carried into effect, is that of the middleman. It is 
not only that it ruins the land; it ruins the people also. ‘They 
are made so poor—brought so near the ground—that they can 
sink no lower; and burst out at last into all the acts of despe- 
ration and revenge, for which Ireland is sv notorious. Men 
who have money in their pockets, and find that they are im- 
proving in their circumstances, don’t do these things. Opu- 


338 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


lence, or the hope of opulence or comfort, is the parent of 
decency, order, and submission to the laws. A landlord in 
Ireland understands the luxury of carriages and horses; but 
has no relish for the greater luxury of surrounding himself 
with a moral and grateful tenantry. ‘The absent proprietor 
looks only to revenue, and cares nothing for the disorder and 
degradation of a country which he never means to visit. 
There are very honourable exceptions to this charge: but 
there are too many living instances that it is just. ‘The rapa- 
city of the Irish landlord induces him to allow of the extreme 
division of his lands. When the daughter marries, a little 
portion of the little farm is broken off—another corner for 
Patrick, and another for Dermot—till the land is broken into 
sections, upon one of which an English cow could not stand. 
‘Twenty mansions of misery are thus reared instead of one. 
A louder cry of oppression is lifted up to heaven; and fresh 
enemies to the English name and power are multiplied on the 
earth. ‘The Irish gentlemen, too, extremely desirous of po- 
litical influence, multiply freeholds, and split votes; and this 
propensity tends of course to increase the miserable redund- 
ance of living beings, under which Ireland is groaning. 
Among the manifold wretchedness to which the poor Irish 
tenant is liable, we must not pass over the practice of driving 
for rent. A lets land to B, who lets it to C, who lets it again 
to D. D pays C his rent, and C pays B. Butif B fails to 
pay A, the cattle of B, C, D are all driven to the pound, and, 
after the interval of a few days, sold by auction. A general 
driving of this kind very frequently leads to a bloody insurrec- 
tion. It may be ranked among the classical grievances of 
Treland. 

Potatoes enter for a great deal into the present condition of 
Ireland. ‘They are much cheaper than wheat; and it is so 
easy to rear a family upon them, that there is no check to 
population from the difficulty of procuring food. ‘The popu- 
lation therefore goes on with a rapidity approaching almost to 
that of new countries, and in a much greater ratio than the 
improving agriculture and manufactures of the country can 
find employment for it. All degrees of all nations begin with 
living in pig-styes. ‘The king or the priest first gets out of 
them ; then the noble, then the pauper, in proportion as each 
class becomes more and more opulent. Better tastes arise 
from better circumstances; and the luxury of one period is the 


IRELAND. 339 


wretchedness and poverty of another. English peasants, in 
the time of Henry the Seventh, were lodged as badly as Irish 
peasants now are; but the population was limited by the diffi- 
culty of procuring a corn subsistence. ‘The improvements of 
this kingdom were more rapid; the price of labour rose; and, 
with it, the luxury and comfort of the peasant, who is now 
decently lodged and clothed, and who would think himself in 
the last stage of wretchedness, if he had nothing but an iron 
pot in a turf house, and plenty of potatoes init. The use of 
the potato was introduced into lreland when the wretched 
accommodation of her own peasantry bore some proportion to 
the state of those accommodations all over Europe. But they 
have increased their population so fast, and, in conjunction 
with the oppressive government of Ireland retarding improve- 
ment, have kept the price of labour so low, that the Irish poor 
have never been able to emerge from their mud cabins, or to 
acquire any taste for cleanliness and decency of appearance. 
Mr. Curwen has the following description of Irish cottages. 


‘These mansions of miserable existence, for so they may truly be 
described, conformably to our general estimation of those indispen- 
sable comforts requisite to constitute the happiness of rational beings, 
are most commonly composed of two rooms on the ground floor, a 
most appropriate term, for they are literally on the earth; the surface 
of which is not unfrequently reduced a foot or more, to save the ex- 
pense of so much outward walling. ‘The one is a refectory, the other 
the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if the owner ranks in the 
upper part of the scale of scantiness, will consist of a kitchen dresser, 
well provided and highly decorated with crockery—not less appa- 
rently the pride of the husband than the result of female vanity in the 
wife: which, with a table, a chest, a few stools, and an iron pot, com- 
plete the catalogue of conveniences generally found, as belonging to 
the cabin; whilea spinning-wheel, furnished by the Linen Board, and 
a loom, ornament vacant spaces, that otherwise would remain unfur- 
nished. In fitting up the latter, which cannot, on any occasion, or 
by any display, add a feather to the weight or importance expected to 
be excited by the appearance of the former, the inventory is limited 
to one, and sometimes two beds, serving for the repose of the whole 
family! However downy these may be to limbs impatient for rest, 
their coverings appeared to be very slight; and the whole of the 
apartment created reflections of a very painful nature. Under such 
privations, with a wet mud floor, and a roof in tatters, how idle the 
search for comforts !’—Curwen, I. 112, 113. 


To this extract we shall add one more on the same subject. 


‘The gigantic figure, bare-headed before me, had a beard that 
would not have disgraced an ancient Israelite—he was without shoes 


340 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


or stockings—and almost a sans-culotte—with a coat or rather a 
jacket, that appeared as if the first blast of wind would tear it to tat- 
ters. Though his garb was thus tattered, he had a manly command- 
ing countenance. I asked permission to see the inside of his cabin, 
to which I received his most courteous assent. On stooping to enter 
at the door I was stopped, and found that permission from another 
was necessary before I could be admitted. A pig, which was fastened 
to a stake driven into the floor, with length of rope sufficient to per- 
mit him the enjoyment of sun and air, demanded some courtesy, 
which I showed him, and was suffered to enter. The wife was 
engaged in boiling thread; and by her side, near the fire, a lovely 
infant was sleeping, without any covering, on a bare board. Whether 
the fire gave additional glow to the countenance of the babe, or that 
Nature impressed on its unconscious cheek a blush that the lot of 
man should be exposed to such privations, I will not decide; but if 
the cause be’referable to the latter, it was in perfect unison with my 
own feelings. ‘Two or three other children crowded round the mother: 
on their rosy countenances health seemed established in spite of filth 
and ragged garments. The dress of the poor woman was barely 
sufficient to satisfy decency. Her countenance bore the impression 
of a set melancholy, tinctured with an appearance of ill health. The 
hovel, which did not exceed twelve or fifteen feet in length, and ten 
in breadth, was half obscured by smoke—chimney or window I saw 
none; the door served the various purposes of an inlet to light, and 
the outlet to smoke. The furniture consisted of two stools, an iron 
pot, and a spinning-wheel—while a sack stuffed with straw, and a 
single blanket laid on planks, served as a bed for the repose of the 
whole family. Need I attempt to describe my sensations? The 
statement alone cannot fail of conveying, to a mind like yours, an 
adequate idea of them—I could not long remain a witness to this 
acmé of human misery. As I left the deplorable habitation, the mis- 
tress followed me to repeat her thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. 
This gave me an opportunity of observing her person more particu- 
larly. She was a tall figure, her countenance composed of interesting 
features, and with every appearance of having once been handsome. 

‘Unwilling to quit the village without first satisfying myself whether 
what I had seen was a solitary instance, or a sample of its general 
state; or whether the extremity of poverty I had just beheld had arisen 
from peculiar improvidence and want of management in one wretched 
family; I went into an adjoining habitation, where I found a poor old 
woman of eighty, whose miserable existence was painfully continued 
by the maintenance of her-granddaughter. Their condition, if possi- 
ble, was more deplorable.’— Curwen, I. 181, 183. 


This wretchedness, of which all strangers who visit Ireland 
are so sensible, proceeds certainly, in great measure, from 
their accidental use of a food so cheap, that it encourages 
population to an extraordinary degree, lowers the price of 
labour, and leaves the multitudes which it calls into existence 


IRELAND. 341 


almost destitute of every thing but food. Many more live, in 
consequence of the introduction of potatoes; but all live in 
greater wretchedness. In the progress of population, the 
potato must of course become at last as difficult to be procured 
as any other food; and then let the political economist calcu- 
late what the immensity and wretchedness of a people must 
be, where the farther progress of population is checked by the 
difficulty of procuring potatoes. 

The consequence of the long mismanagement and oppres- 
sion of Ireland, and of the singular circumstances in which it 
is placed, is, that it is a semibarbarous country :—more shame 
to those who have thus ill treated a fine country, and a fine 
people; but it is part of the present case of Ireland. ‘The 
barbarism of Ireland is evinced by the frequency and ferocity 
of duels,—the hereditary clannish feuds of the common peo- 
ple,—and the fights to which they give birth,—the atrocious 
cruelties practised in the insurrections of the common people— 
and their proneness to insurrection. ‘The lower Irish live in 
a state of greater wretchedness than any other people in Eu- 
rope, inhabiting so fine a soil and climate. It is difficult, 
often impossible, to execute the processes of law. In cases 
where gentlemen are concerned, it is often not even attempted. 
The conduct of under-sheriffs is often very corrupt.* Weare 
afraid the magistracy of Ireland is very inferior to that of this 
country ; the spirit of jobbing and bribery is very widely dif- 
fused, and upon occasions when the utmost purity prevails in 
the sister kingdom. Military force is necessary all over the 
country, and often for the most common and just operations 
of government. ‘The behaviour of the higher to the lower 
orders is much less gentle and decent than in England. Blows 
from superiors to inferiors are more frequent, and the punish- 
ment for such aggression more doubtful. ‘The word genétle- 
man seems, in Ireland, to put an end to most processes of 
law. Arrest a gentleman!!!!—take out a warrant against a 
gentleman—are modes of operation not very common in the 
administration of Irish justice. If a man strikes the meanest 
peasant in England, he is either knocked down in his turn, or 
immediately taken before a magistrate. It is impossible to 
live in Ireland, without perceiving the various points in which 
it is inferior in civilization. Want of unity in feeling and 


* The difficulty often is to catch the sheriff. 


342 ‘ WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


interest among the people,—irritability, violence, and re- 
venge,—want of comfort and cleanliness in the lower orders,— 
habitual disobedience to the law,—want of confidence in ma- 
gistrates,—corruption, venality, the perpetual necessity of re- 
curring to military foree,—all carry back the observer to that 
remote and early condition of mankind, which an Englishman 
can learn only in the pages of the antiquary or the historian. 
We do not draw this picture for censure, but for truth. We 
admire the lrish,—feel the most sincere pity for the state of 
Ireland, and think the conduct of the English to that country 
to have been a system of atrocious cruelty and contemptible 
meanness. With such a climate, such a soil, and such a 
people, the inferiority of Ireland to the rest of Europe is 
directly chargeable to the long wickedness of the English 
government. 

A direct consequence of the present uncivilized state of Ire- 
land is, that very little English capital travels there. The 
man who deals in steam-engines, and warps and woofs, is 
naturally alarmed by Peep-of-Day Boys, and nocturnal Card- 
ers; his object is to buy and sell as quickly and quietly as he 
can; and he will naturally bear high taxes and rivalry in Eng- 
land, or emigrate to any part of the Continent, or to America, 
rather than plunge into the tumult of Irish politics and pas- 
sions. ‘There is nothing which Ireland wants more than large 
manufacturing towns, to take off its superfluous population. 
But internal peace must come first, and then the arts of peace 
will follow. The foreign manufacturer will hardly think of 
embarking his capital, where he cannot be sure that his exist- 
ence is safe. Another check to the manufacturing greatness 
of Ireland, is the scarcity—not of coal—but of good coal, 
cheaply raised; an article in which (in spite of papers in the 
Irish Transactions) they are lamentably inferior to.the English. 

Another consequence from some of the causes we have 
stated, is the extreme idleness of the Irish labourer. ‘There 
is nothing of the value of which the Irish seem to have so 
little notion as that of time. ‘They scratch, pick, daudle, 
stare, gape, and do any thing but strive and wrestle with the 
task before them. The most ludicrous of all human objects, 
is an Irishman ploughing.—A gigantic figure—a seven foot 
machine for turning potatoes into human nature, wrapt up in 
an immense. great coat, and urging on two starved ponies, 
with dreadful imprecations, and uplifted shillala. The Irish 


IRELAND. 343 


crow discerns a coming perquisite, and is not inattentive to 
the proceedings of the steeds. ‘The furrow which is to be 
the depositary of the future crop, is not unlike, either in depth 
or regularity, to those domestic furrows which the nails of the 
meek and much-injured wife plough, in some family quarrel, 
upon the cheeks of the deservedly punished husband. The 
weeds seem to fall contentedly, knowing that they have ful- 
filled their destiny, and left behind them, for the resurrection 
of the ensuing spring, an abundant and healthy progeny. 
The whole is a scene of idleness, laziness, and poverty, of 
which it is impossible, in this active and enterprising country, 
to form the most distant conception; but strongly indicative of 
habits, whether secondary or original, which will long present 
a powerful impediment to the improvement of Ireland. 

The Irish character contributes something to retard the im- 
provements of that country. ‘The Irishman has many good 
qualities: he is brave, witty, generous, eloquent, hospitable, 
and open-hearted; but he is vain, ostentatious, extravagant, 
and fond of display—light in counsel—deficient in perse- 
verance—without skill in private or public economy—an 
enjoyer, not an acquirer—one who despises the slow and pa- 
tient virtues—who wants the superstructure without the foun- 
dation—the result without the previous operation—the oak 
without the acorn and the three hundred years of expectation. 
The Irish are irascible, prone to debt, and to fight, and very 
impatient of the restraints of law. Such a people are not 
likely to keep their eyes steadily upon the main chance, like 
the Scotch or the Dutch. England strove very hard, at one 
period, to compel the Scotch to pay a double Church ;—but 
Sawney took his pen and ink; and finding what a sum it 
amounted to, became furious, and drew his sword. God for- 
bid the Irishman should do the same! the remedy, now, 
would be worse than the disease; but if the oppressions of 
England had been more steadily resisted a century ago, Ire- 
land would not have been the scene of poverty, misery, and 
distress which it now is. 

The Catholic religion, among other causes, contributes to 
the backwardness and barbarism of Ireland. Its debasing 
superstition, childish ceremonies, and the profound submis- 
sion to the priesthood which it teaches, all tend to darken 
. men’s minds, to impede the progress of knowledge and in- 
quiry, and to prevent Ireland from becoming as free, as power- 


344 - WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ful, and as rich as the sister kingdom. Though sincere friends 
to Catholic emancipation, we are no advocates for the Catho- 
lic religion. We should be very glad to see a general conver- 
sion to Protestantism among the Irish; but we do not think 
that violence, privations, and incapacities, are the proper me- 
thods of making proselytes. 

Such, then, is Ireland, at this period,—a land more barba- 
rous than the rest of Europe, because it has been worse 
treated and more cruelly oppressed. Many of the incapaci- 
ties and privations to which the Catholics were exposed, have 
been removed by law; but, in such instances, they are still 
incapacitated and deprived by custom. Many cruel and op- 
pressive laws are still enforced against them. A ninth part 
of the population engrosses all the honours of the country; 
the other nine pay a tenth of the product of the earth for the 
support of a religion in which they do not believe. ‘There is 
little capital in the country. The great and rich men are 
called by business, or allured by pleasure, into England; their 
estates are given up to factors, and the utmost farthing of rent 
extorted from the poor, who, if they give up the land, cannot 
get employment in manufactures, or regular employment in 
husbandry. ‘The common people use a sort of food so very 
cheap, that they can rear families, who cannot procure em- 
ployment, and who have little more of the comforts of life 
than food. ‘The Irish are light-minded—want of employment 
has made them idle—they are irritable and brave—have a 
keen remembrance of the past wrongs they have suffered, and 
the present wrongs they are suffering from England. The 
consequence of all this is, eternal riot and insurrection, a 
whole army of soldiers in time of profound peace, and gene- 
ral rebellion whenever England is busy with other enemies. 
or off her guard! And thus it will be while the same causes 
continue to operate, for ages to come,—and worse and worse 
as the rapidly increasing population of the Catholics becomes 
more and more numerous. 

The remedies are, time and justice; and that justice con- 
sists in repealing all laws which make any distinction between 
the two religions; in placing over the government of Ireland, 
not the stupid, amiable, and insignificant noblemen who have 
too often been sent there, but men who feel deeply the wrongs 
of Ireland, and who have an ardent wish to heal them; who 


IRELAND. — 345 


will take care that Catholics, when eligible, shall be elect- 
ed;* who will share the patronage of Ireland proportionally 
among the two parties, and give to just and liberal laws the 
same vigour of execution which has hitherto been reserved 
only for decrees of tyranny, and the enactments of oppression. 
The injustice and hardship of supporting two churches must 
be put out of sight, if it cannot or ought not to be cured. 
The political economist, the moralist, and the satirist, must 
combine to teach moderation and superintendence to the great 
Irish proprietors. Public talk and clamour may do some- 
thing for the poor Irish, as it did for the slaves in the West 
Indies. Ireland will become more quiet under such treat- 
ment, and then more rich, more comfortable, and more civi- 
lized; and the horrid spectacle of folly and tyranny, which it 
at present exhibits, may in time be removed from the eyes of 
Europe. 

There are two eminent Irishmen now in the House of 
Commons, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, who will 
subscribe to the justness of every syllable we have said upon 
this subject; and who have it in their power, by making it 
the condition of their remaining in office, to liberate their 
native country, and raise it to its just rank among the nations 
of the earth. Yet the court buys them over, year after year, 
by the pomp and perquisites of office, and year after year 
they come into the House of Commons, feeling deeply, and 
describing powerfully, the injuries of five millions of their 
countrymen,—and continue members of a government ‘that 
inflicts those evils, under the pitiful delusion that it is nota 
cabinet question,—as if the scratchings and quarrellings of 
kings and queens could alone cement politicians together in in- 
dissoluble unity, while the fate and fortune of one-third of the 
empire might be complimented away from one minister to 
another, without the smallest breach in their cabinet alliance. 
Politicians, at least honest politicians, should be very flexible 
and accommodating in little things, very rigid and inflexible 
in great things. And is this not a great thing? Who has 
painted it in finer and more commanding eloquence than Mr. 
Canning? Who has taken a more sensible and statesman- 
like view of our miserable and cruel policy, than Lord Castle- 


* Great merit is due to the Whigs for the patronage bestowed on 
Catholics, 


VOL. I.—23 


346 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
<a 


reagh? You would think, to hear them, that the,same planet 
could not contain them and the oppressors of their country,— 
perhaps not the same solar system. Yet for money, claret, 
and patronage, they lend their countenance, assistance, and 
friendship, to the ministers who are the stern and ‘inflexible 
enemies to the emancipation of Ireland! 

Thank God that all is not profligacy and corruption in the 
history of that devoted people—and that the name of Irish- 
man does not always carry with it the idea of the oppressor 
or the oppressed—-the plunderer or the plundered——the tyrant 
or the slave. Great men hallow a whole people, and lift up 
all who live in their time. What Irishman does not feel 
proud that he has lived in the days of Grattan? who has 
not turned to him for comfort, from the false friends and open 
enemies of Ireland? who did not remember him in the days 
of its burnings and wastings and murders? No government 
ever dismayed him-——-the world could not bribe him—he 
thought only of Ireland—-lived for no other object-—dedicated 
to her his beautiful fancy, his elegant wit, his manly courage, 
and all the splendour of his astonishing eloquence. He was 
so born, and so gifted, that poetry,-forensic skill, elegant litera- 
ture, and all the highest attainments of human genius, were 
within his reach; but he thought the noblest occupation of a 
man was to make other men happy and free; and in that 
straight line he went on for fifty years, without one side-look, 
without one yielding thought, without one motive in his heart 
which he might not have laid open to the view of God and 
man. He is gone!—-but there is not a single day of his 
honest life of which every good Irishman would not be more 
proud, than of the whole political existence of his country- 
men,——the annual deserters and betrayers of their native land 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS, 347 


SPRING GUNS: (Epivsuren Review, 1821.) 


The Shooter’s Guide. By J. B. Johnson. 12mo. Edwards and Knibb. 
1819, 


Wuew Lord Dacre (then Mr. Brand) brought into the House 
of Commons his bill for the amendment of the game laws, a 
system of greater mercy and humanity was in vain recom- 
mended to that popular branch of the legislature. ‘The inte- 
rests of humanity, and the interests of the lord of the manor, 
were not, however, opposed to each other; nor any attempt 
made to deny the superior importance of the last. No such 
bold or alarming topics were agitated ; but it was contended 
that, if laws were less ferocious, there would be more par- 
tridges—if the lower orders of mankind were not torn from 
their families and banished to Botany Bay, hares and pheasants 
would be increased in number, or, at least, not diminished. 
Itis not, however, till after long experience, that mankind ever 
think of recurring to humane expedients for effecting their 
objects. The rulers who ride the people never think of coax- 
ing and patting till they have worn out the lashes of their 
whips, and broken the rowels of their spurs. The legisla- 
tors of the trigger replied, that two laws had lately passed 
which would answer their purpose of preserving game: the 
one, an act for transporting men found with arms in their 
hands for the purposes of killing game in the night; the other, 
an act for rendering the buyers of the game equally guilty with 
the seller, and for involving both in the same penalty. ‘Three 
seasons have elapsed since the last of these laws was passed ; 
and we appeal to the experience of all the great towns in 
England, whether the difficulty of procuring game is in the 
slightest degree increased ?—whether hares, partridges, and 
pheasants are not purchased with as much facility as before 
the passing this act?—-whether the price of such unlawful 
commodities is even in the slightest degree increased? Let 
the Assize and Sessions’ calendars bear witness, whether the 
law for transporting poachers has not had the most direct ten- 


348 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


dency to encourage brutal assaults and ferocious murders, 
There is hardly now a jail-delivery in which some gamekeeper 
has not murdered a poacher—or some poacher a gamekeeper. 
If the question concerned the payment of five pounds, a poacher 
would hardly risk his life rather than be taken; but when he 
is to go to Botany Bay for seven years, he summons together 
his brother poachers—they get brave from rum, numbers, and 
despair—and a bloody battle ensues. 

-Another method by which it is attempted to defeat the de- 
predations of the poacher, is by setting spring guns to murder 
any person who comes within their reach; and it is to this 
last new feature in the supposed game laws, to which, on the 
present occasion, we intend principally to confine our notice. 

We utterly disclaim all hostility to the game laws in gene- 
ral. Game ought to belong to those who feed it. All the 
landowners in England are fairly entitled to all the game in 
England. ‘These laws are constructed upon a basis of sub- 
stantial justice; but there is a great deal of absurdity and 
tyranny mingled with them, and a perpetual and vehement 
desire on the part of the country gentlemen to push the pro- 
visions of these laws up to the highest point of tyrannical 
severity. 

‘Is it lawful to put to death by a spring gun, or any other 
machine, an unqualified person trespassing upon your woods 
or fields in pursuit of game, and who has received due notice 
of your intention, and of the risk to which he is exposed?’ 
This, we think, is stating the question as fairly as can be 
stated. We purposely exclude gardens, orchards, and all 
contiguity to the dwelling-house. We exclude, also, all fe- 
lonious intention on the part of the deceased. The object of 
his expedition shall be proved to be game; and the notice he 
received of his danger shall be allowed to be as complete as 
possible. It must also be part of the case, that the spring 
gun was placed there for the express purpose of defending the 
game, by killing or wounding the poacher, or spreading terror, 
or doing any thing that a reasonable man ought to know would 
happen from such a proceeding. 

Suppose any gentleman were to give notice that all other 
persons must abstain from his manors ; that he himself and his 
servants paraded the woods and fields with loaded pistols and 
blunderbusses, and would shoot any body who fired at a par- 
tridge; and suppose he were to keep his word, and shoot 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS. 349 
through the head some rash trespasser who defied this bravado, 
and was determined to have his sport:—Is there any doubt 
that he would be guilty of murder? ’ We. suppose no resist- 
ance on the part of the trespasser; but that, the moment he 
passes the line of demarcation with his dogs and gun, he is 
shot dead by the proprietor of the land from behind a tree. 
If this is not murder, what is murder? We will make the 
ease a little better for the homicide squire. It shall be night; 
the poacher, an unqualified person, steps over the line of de- 
marcation with his nets and snares, and is instantly shot 
through the head by the pistol of the proprietor. We have 
no doubt that this would be murder—that it ought to be con- 
sidered as murder, and punished as murder. We think this 
so clear, that it would be a waste of time to argue it. There 
is no kind of resistance on the part of the deceased ; no attempt 
to run away; he is not even challenged: but instantly shot 
dead by the proprietor of the wood, for no other crime than 
the intention of killing game unlawfully. We do not suppose 
that any man, possessed of the elements of law and common 
sense, would deny this to be a case of murder, let the previous 
notice to the deceased have been as perfect as it could be. It 
is true, a trespasser in a park may be killed; but then it is 
when he will not render himself to the keepers, upon an hue 
and cry to stand to the king’s peace. But deer are property, 
game is not; and this power of slaying deer-stealers is by the 
21st Edward I., de Malefactoribus in Parcis, and by 3d and 
Ath William & Mary, c.10. Sorioters may be killed, house- 
burners, ravishers, felons refusing to be arrested, felons escap- 
ing, felons breaking jail, men resisting a civil process—may 
all be put todeath. All these cases of justifiable homicide are 
laid down and admitted in our books. But who ever heard, 
that to pistol a poacher was justifiable homicide? It has long 
been decided, that it is unlawful to kill a dog who is pursuing 
game in a manor. ‘To decide the contrary,’ says Lord 
Ellenborough, ‘would outrage reason and sense.’ (Vere v. 
Lord Cawdor and King, 11 Last, 368.) Pointers have 
always been treated by the legislature with great delicacy and 
consideration. ‘T’o ‘ wish to be a dog and to bay the moon,’ 
is not quite so mad a wish as the poet thought it. 

If these things are so, what is the difference between the act 
of firing yourself, and placing an engine which does the same 
thing? In the one case your hand pulls the trigger; in the 


’ 


350 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


other, it places the wire which communicates with the trigger, 
and causes the death of the trespasser. ‘There is the same in- 
tention of slaying in both cases—there is precisely the same 
human agency in both cases; only the steps are rather more 
numerous in the latter case. As to the bad effects of allowing 
proprietors of game to put trespassers to death at once, or to set 
guns that will do it, we can have no hesitation in saying, that 
the first method, of giving the power of life and death to 
esquires, would be by far the most humane. For, as we have 
observed in a previous Essay on the Game laws, a live armi- 
geral spring gun would distinguish an accidental trespasser 
from a real poacher——-a woman or a boy from a man—perhaps 
might spare a friend or an acquaintance—or a father of a family 
with ten children—or a small freeholder who voted for ad- 
ministration. But this new rural artillery must destroy, with- 
out mercy and selection, every one who approaches it. 

In the case of Ilot versus Wilks, Esq., the four judges, 
Abbot, Bailey, Holroyd, and Best, gave their opinions seriatim 
on points connected with this question. In this case, as 
reported in Chetwynd’s edition of Burn’s Justice, 1820, vol. 
ii. p. 500, Abbot C. J. observes as follows :— 


‘I cannot say that repeated and increasing acts of aggression may 
not reasonably call for increased means of defence and protection. I 
believe that many of the persons who cause engines of this descrip- 
tion to be placed in their grounds, do not do so with an intention to 
injure any person, but really believe that the publication of notices 
will prevent any person from sustaining an injury; and that no person 
having the notice given him, will be weak and foolish enough to ex- 
pose himself to the perilous consequences of his trespass. Many 
persons who place such engines in their grounds, do so for the purpose 
of preventing, by means of terror, injury to their property, rather than 
from any motive of doing malicious injury.’ 


‘Increased means of defence and protection,’ but increased 
(his lordship should remember) from the payment of five pounds 
to instant death—and instant death inflicted, not by the arm of 
law, but by the arm of the proprietor ;—could the Lord Chief 
Justice of the King’s Bench intend to say, that the impossibility 
of putting an end to poaching by other means would justify the 
infliction of death upon the offender? Is he so ignorant of the 
philosophy of punishing, as to imagine he has nothing to do 
but to give ten stripes instead of two, an hundred instead of 
ten, and a thousand, if an hundred will not do? to substitute 
the prison for pecuniary fines, and the gallows instead of the 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS. 351 


jail? It is impossible so enlightened a judge can forget, that 
the sympathies of mankind must be consulted; that it would 
be wrong to break a person upon the wheel for stealing a 
penny loaf, and that gradations in punishments must be care- 
fully accommodated to gradations in crime; that if poaching 
is punished more than mankind in general think it ought to be 
punished, the fault will either escape with impunity, or the 
delinquent be driven to desperation ; that if poaching and mur- 
der are punished equally, every poacher will be an assassin. 
Besides, too, if the principle is right in the unlimited and un- 
qualified manner in which the Chief Justice puts it—if defence 
goes on increasing with aggression, the legislature at least 
must determine upon their equal pace. If an act of Parliament 
made it a capital offence to poach upon a manor, as it is to 
commit a burglary in a dwelling-house, it might then be as 
lawful to shoot a person for trespassing upon your manor, as 
it is to kill a thief for breaking into your house. But the real 
question is—and so in sound reasoning his lordship should 
have put it—‘If the law at this moment determines the aggres- 
sion to be in such a state, that it merits only a pecuniary fine 
after summons and proof, has any sporadic squire the right to 
say, that it shall be punished with death, before any summons 
and without any proof?’ 

It appears to us, too, very singular to say that many per- 
sons who cause engines of this description to be placed in 
their ground, do not do so with an intention of injuring any 
person, but really believe that the publication of notices will 
prevent any person from sustaining an injury, and that no 
person, having the notice given him, will be weak and foolish 
enough to expose himself to the perilous consequences of his 
trespass. But if this is the real belief of the engineer—if he 
thinks the mere notice will keep people away—-then he must 
think it a mere inutility that the guns should be placed at all; 
if he thinks that many will be deterred, and a few come, then 
he must mean to shoot those few. He who believes his gun 
will never be called upon to do its duty, need set no gun, and 
trust to rumour of their being set, or being loaded, for his pro- 
tection. Against the gun and the powder we have no com- 
plaint; they are perfectly fair and admissible: our quarrel is 
with the bullets. He who sets a Joaded gun, means it should 

o off if it is touched. But what signifies the mere empty 
wish that there may be no mischief, when I perform an action 


352 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


which my common sense tells me may produce the worst mis- 
chief? If I hear a great noise in the street, and fire a bullet 
to keep people quiet, I may not perhaps have intended to 
kill; 1 may have wished to have produced quiet by mere ter- 
ror, and I may have expressed a strong hope that my object 
has been effected without the destruction of human life. Still 
I have done that which every man of sound intellect knows is 
likely to kill; and if any one falls from my act, I am guilty of 
murder. ‘Further,’ (says Lord Coke.) ‘if there be an evil 
intent, though that intent extendeth not to death, it is murder. 
Thus, if a man, knowing that many people are in the street, 
throw a stone over the wall, intending only to frighten them, 
or to give them a little hurt, and thereupon one is killed—this 
is murder—for he had an ill intent; though that intent extended 
not to death, and though he knew not the party slain.’ (3 Jnst. 
57.) Ifa man is not mad, he must be presumed to foresee 
common consequences if he puts a bullet into a spring gun— | 
he may be supposed to foresee that it will kill any poacher 
who touches the wire—and to that consequence he must stand. 
We do not suppose all preservers of game to be so bloodily 
inclined that they would prefer the death of a poacher to his 
staying away. ‘Their object is to preserve game; they have 
no objection to preserve the lives of their fellow-creatures also, 
if both can exist at the same time; if not, the least worthy of 
God’s creatures must fall—the rustic without a soul—not the 
Christian partridge—not the immortal pheasant—not the 
rational woodcoek, or the accountable hare. 

The Chief Justice quotes the instance of glass and spikes _ 
fixed upon walls. He cannot mean to infer from this, because 
the law connives at the infliction of such small punishments for 
the protection of property, that it does allow, or ought to allow, 
proprietors to proceed to the punishment of death. Small means 
of annoying trespassers may be consistently admitted by the 
Jaw, though more severe ones are forbidden, and ought to be 
forbidden ; unless it follows, that what is good in any degree, is 
good in the highest degree. You may correct a servant boy with 
aswitch ; butif you bruise him sorely, you are to be indicted— 
if you kill him, you are hanged. A blacksmith corrected his 
servant with a bar of iron; the boy died, and the blacksmith 
was executed. (Grey’s Case, Kel. 64, 65.) A woman kicked 
and stamped on the belly of her child—she was found guilty 
of murder. (1 Last, P. C. 261.) St immoderate suo jure 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS. 353 


utatur, tunc reus homicidii sit. There is, besides, this ad- 
ditional difference in the two cases put by the Chief Justice, 
that no publication of notices can be so plain, in the case of 
the guns, as the sight of the glass or the spikes; for a tres- 
passer may not believe in the notice which he receives, or he 
may think he shall see a gun, and so avoid it, or that he may 
have the good luck to avoid it, if he does not see it; whereas, 
of the presence of the glass or the spikes he can have no doubt; 
and he has no hope of placing his hand in any spot where 
they are not. In the one ease, he cuts his fingers upon full 
and perfect notice, the notice of his own senses; in the other 
case, he loses his life after a notice which he may disbelieve, 
and by an engine which he may hope to escape. 

Mr. Justice Bailey observes, in the same case, that it is not 
an indictable offence toset spring guns: perhaps not. It is not 
an indictable offence to go about with a loaded pistol, intending 
to shoot any body who grins at you; but, if you do it, you 
are hanged: many inchoate acts are innocent, the consummation 
of which is a capital offence. 

This is not a case where the motto applies of Volenti non 
fit injuria. The man does not will to be hurt, but he wills to 
get the game; and, with that rash confidence natural to many 
characters, believes he shall avoid the evil and gain the good. 
On the contrary, it isa case which exactly arranges itself under 
the maxim, Quando aliquid prohibetur ex directo, prohibetur 
et per obliquum. Give what notice he may, the proprietor 
cannot lawfully shoot a trespasser (who neither runs nor re- 
sists) with a loaded pistol;—he cannot do it ex directos—how 
then can he do it per obliquum, by arranging on the ground 
the pistol which commits the murder? 

Mr. Justice Best delivers the following opinion. His lord- 
ship concluded as follows :— 


‘This case has been discussed at the bar, as if these engines were 
exclusively resorted to for the protection of game ; but I consider them 
as lawfully applicable to the protection of every species of property 
against unlawful trespassers. But if even they might not lawfully be 
used for the protection of game, I, for one, should be extremely glad 
to adopt such means, if they were found sufficient for that purpose; 
because I think it a great object that gentlemen should have a tempta- 
tion to reside in the country, amongst their neighbours and tenantry, 
whose interests must be materially advanced by such a circumstance. 
The links of society are thereby better preserved, and the mutual 
advantage and dependence of the higher and lower classes of society, 


354 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


existing between each other, more beneficially maintained. We have 
seen, in a neighbouring country, the baneful consequences of the non- 
residence of the landed gentry; and in an ingenious work, lately pub- 
lished by a foreigner, we learn the fatal effects of a like system on 
the Continent. By preserving game, gentlemen are tempted to reside 
in the country; and, considering that the diversion of the field is the 
only one of which they can partake on the estates, 1am of opinion 
that, for the purpose I have stated, it is of essential importance that 
this species of property should be inviolably protected.’ 


If this speech of Mr. Justice Best is correctly reported, it 
follows, that a man may put his fellow-creatures to death for 
any infringement of his property—for picking the sloes and 
blackberries off his hedges—for breaking a few dead sticks out 
of them by night or by day—with resistance or without resist- 
ance—with warning or without warning ;—a strange method 
this of keeping up the links of society, and maintaining the 
dependence of the lower upon the higher classes. It certainly 
is of importance that gentlemen should reside on their estates 
in the country ; but not that gentlemen with such opinions as 
these should reside. The more they are absent from the coun- 
try, the less strain will there be upon those links to which the 
learned judge alludes—the more firm that dependence upon 
which he places so just a value. In the case of Dean versus 
Clayton, Bart., the Court of Common Pleas were equally di- 
vided upon the lawfulness of killing a dog coursing an hare by 
means of a concealed dog-spear. We confess that we cannot 
see the least difference between transfixing with a spear, or 
placing a spear so that it will transfix; and, therefore, if Vere 
versus Lord Cawdor and King is good law, the action could 
have been maintained in Dean versus Clayton; but the solemn 
consideration concerning the life of the pointer is highly cre- 
ditable to all the judges. They none of them say that it is 
lawful to put a trespassing pointer to death under any circum- 
stances, or that they themselves would be glad to do it; they 
all seem duly impressed with the recollection that they are 
deciding the fate of an animal faithfully ministerial to the plea- 
sures of the upper classes of society: there is an awful desire 
to do their duty, and a dread of any rash and intemperate de- 
cision. Seriously speaking, we can hardly believe this report 
of Mr. Justice Best’s speech to be correct; yet we take it from 
a book which guides the practice of nine-tenths of all the 
magistrates in England. Does a judge,—a cool, calm man, 
in whose hands are the issues of life and death—from whom 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS. 355 


sO many miserable trembling human beings await their des- 
tiny—does he tell us, and tell us in a court of justice, that he 
places such little value on the life of man, that he himself 
would plot the destruction of his fellow-creatures for the pre- 
servation of a few hares and partridges? ‘ Nothing which 
falls from me’ (says Mr. Justice Bailey) ‘shall have a ten- 
dency to encourage the practice.’——-‘ I consider them’ (says Mr. 
Justice Best) ‘as lawfully applicable 1o the protection of every 
species of property; but even if they might not lawfully be used 
for the protection of game, I for one should be extremely glad 
to adopt them, if they were found sufficient for that purpose.’ 
Can any man doubt to which of these two magistrates he would 
rather entrust a decision on his life, his liberty, and his posses- 
sions? We should be very sorry to misrepresent Mr. Justice 
Best, and will give to his disavowal of such sentiments, if he does 
disavow them, all the publicity in our power; but we have cited 
his very words conscientiously and correctly, as they are given 
in the Law Report. We have no doubt he meant to do his duty; 
we blame not his motives, but his feelings and his reasoning. 

Let it be observed that, in the whole of this case, we have 
put every circumstance in favour of the murderer. We have 
supposed it to be in the night time; but a man may be shot 
in the day* by a spring gun. We have supposed the deceased 
to be a poacher; but he may be a very innocent man, who has 
missed his way—an unfortunate botanist, or a lover. We 
have supposed notice; but it is a very possible event that the 
dead man may have been utterly ignorant of the notice. This 
instrument, so highly approved of by Mr. Justice Best—this 
knitter together of the different orders of society—is levelled 
promiscuously against the guilty or the innocent, the ignorant 
and the informed. No man whosets such an infernal machine, 
believes that it can reason or discriminate; it is made to mur- 
der all alike, and it does murder all alike. -~ 

Blackstone says, that the law of England, like that of every 
other well regulated community, is tender of the public peace, 
and careful of the lives of the subjects ; ‘ that it will not suffer 
with impunity any crime to be prevented by death, unless the 
same, if committed, would also be punished by death.’ (Com- 
mentaries, vol. iv. 182.) ‘The law sets so high a valueupon 


* Large damages have been given for wounds inflicted by spring 
guns set ina garden i in the day-time, where the party wounded had no 
notice. 


/ 


356 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


the life of a man, that it always intends some misbehaviour in 
the person who takes it away, unless by the command, or 
express permission of the law.’—‘And as to the necessity 
‘which excuses a,man who kills another se defendendo, Lord 
Bacon calls even that necessitas culpabilis.’ (Commentaries, 
vol. iv. p. 187.) So far this luminary of the law.—But the 
very. amusements of the rich are, in the estimation of Mr. Jus- 
tice Best, of so great importance, that the poor are to be ex- 
posed to sudden death who interfere with them. ‘There are 
other persons of the same opinion with this magistrate respect- 
ing the pleasures of the rich. In the last session of Parlia- 
ment a bill was passed, entitled ‘An act for the summary 
punishment, in certain cases, of persons wilfully or maliciously 
damaging, or committing trespasses on public or private pro- 
perty.’ Anno primo—(a bad specimen of what is to happen) 
—Georgii IV. Regis, cap. 56. In this act it is provided, 
that ‘if any person shall wilfully, or maliciously, commit any 
damage, injury, or spoil, upon any building, fence, hedge, gate, 
stile, guide-post, milestone, tree, wood, underwood, orchard, 
garden, nursery-ground, crops, vegetables, plants, land, or 
other matter or thing growing or being therein, or to or upon 
real or personal property of any nature or kind soever, he may 
‘be immediately seized by any body, without a warrant, taken 
before a magistrate, and fined (according to the mischief he 
has done) to the extent of 5/.; or, in default of payment, may 
be committed to the jail for three months.’ And at the end 
comes a clause, exempting from the operation of this act all 
mischief done in hunting, and by shooters who are qualified. 
This is surely the most inipudent piece of legislation that ever 
crept into the statute-book; and, coupled with Mr. Justice 
Best’s declaration, constitutes the following affectionate rela- 
tion between the different orders of society. Says the higher 
link to the lower, ‘If you meddle with my game, I will imme- 
diately murder you ;—if you commit the slightest injury upon 
my real or personal property, I will take you before a magis- 
trate, and fine you five pounds. I am in Parliament, and you 
are not; and I have just brought in an act of Parliament for 
that purpose. But so important is it to you that my pleasures 
should not be interrupted, that I have exempted myself and 
friends from the operation of this act; and we claim the right 
(without allowing you any such summary remedy) of riding 
over your fences, hedges, gates, stiles, guide-posts, milestones, 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS. 357 


woods, underwoods, orchards, gardens, nursery-grounds, crops, 
vegetables, plants, lands, or other matters or things growing or 
being thereupon—including your children and yourselves, if 
you do not get out of the way.’ Is there, upon earth, such a 
mockery of justice as an act of Parliament, pretending to pro- 
tect property, sending a poor hedge-breaker to jail, and spe- 
cially exempting from its operation the accusing and the 
judging squire, who, at the tail of the hounds, have that morn- 
ing, perhaps, ruined as much wheat and seeds as would 
purchase fuel a whole year for a whole village? 

dt cannot be urged, in extenuation of such a murder as we 
have described, that the artificer of death had no particular 
malice against the deceased; that his object was general, and 
his indignation levelled against offenders in the aggregate. 
Every body knows that there is a malice by implication of 
law. 

‘In general, any formal design of doing mischief may be 
called malice ; and therefore, not such killing only as proceeds 
from premeditated hatred and revenge against the person 
killed, but also, in many other cases, such as is accompanied 
with those circumstances that show the heart to be perversely 
wicked, is adjudged to be of malice prepense.’—2 Haw. c. 31. 

_. * For, where the law makes use of the term, malice afore- 

thought, as descriptive of the crime of murder, it is not to be 
‘understood in that narrow restrained sense in which the mo- 
dern use of the word malice is apt to lead one, a principle of 
malevolence to particulars; for the law, by the term malice, 
malitia, in this instance, meaneth, that the fact hath been 
attended with such circumstances as are the ordinary symp- 
toms of a wicked heart, regardless of social duty, and fatally 
bent upon mischief.’—ost. 256, 257. 

Ferocity is the natural weapon of the common people. If 
gentlemen of education and property contend with them at this 
sort of warfare, they will probably be defeated in the end. If 
spring guns are generally set—if the common people are mur- 
dered by them, and the legislature does not interfere, the posts 
of gamekeeper and lord of the manor will soon be posts of 
honour and danger. ‘The greatest curse under heaven (witness 
Ireland) is a peasantry demoralized by the barbarity and in- 
justice of their rulers. 

. It is expected by some persons, that the severe operation of 
these engines will put an end to the trade of a poacher. This 


358 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


has always been predicated of every fresh operation of severity, 
that it was to put an end to*poaching. Butif this argument 
is good for one thing, it is good for another. Let the first 
pickpocket who is taken be hung alive by the ribs, and let him 
be a fortnight in wasting to death. Let us seize a little gram- 
mar boy, who is robbing orchards, tie his arms and legs, throw 
over him a delicate puff-paste, and bake him in a bun-pan in an 
oven. If poaching can be extirpated by intensity of punish- 
ment, why not all other crimes? If racks and gibbets and ten- 
ter-hooks are the best method of bringing back the golden age, 
why do we refrain from so easy a receipt for abolishing every 
species of wickedness? The best way of answering a bad 
argument is not to stop it, but to let it go on in its course till 
it leaps over the boundaries of common sense. There is a little 
book called Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments, which 
we strongly recommend to the attention of Mr. Justice Best. 
He who has not read it, is neither fit to make laws, nor to ad- 
minister them when made. 

As to the idea of abolishing poaching altogether, we will 
believe that poaching is abolished when it is found impossible 
to buy game; or when they have risen so greatly in price, 
that none but people of fortune can buy them. But we are 
convinced this never can, and never will happen. All the 
traps and guns in the world will never prevent the wealth of 
the merchant and manufacturer from commanding the game 
of the landed gentleman. You may, in the pursuit of this 
visionary purpose, render the common people savage, fero- 
cious, and vindictive; you may disgrace your laws by enor- 
mous punishments, and the national character by these new 
secret assassinations ; but you will never separate the wealthy 
glutton from his pheasant. ‘The best way is, to take what you 
want, and to sell the rest fairly and openly. ‘This is the real 
spring gun and steel trap which will annihilate, not the unlaw- 
ful trader, but the unlawful trade. 

There is a sort of horror in thinking of a whole land filled 
with lurking engines of death—machinations against human 
life under every green tree—traps and guns in every dusky 
dell and bosky bourn—the ferz natura, the lords of manors 
eyeing their peasantry as so many butts and marks, and pant- 
ing to hear the click of the trap, and to see the flash of the 
gun. How any human being, educated in liberal knowledge 
-and Christian feeling, can doom to certain destruction a poor 


SPRING GUNS AND MAN TRAPS, 359 


wretch, tempted by the sight of animals that naturally appear 
to him to belong to one person as well as another, we are at a 
loss to conceive. “We cannot imagine how he could live in 
_ the same village, and see the widow and orphans of the man 
whose blood he had shed for such a trifle. We consider a 
person who could do this, to be deficient in the very elements 
of morals—to want that sacred regard to human life which is 
one of the corner stones of civil society. If he sacrifices the 
life of man for his mere pleasures, he would do so, if he dared, 
for the lowest and least of his passions. _ He may be defended, 
perhaps, by the abominable injustice of the game laws— 
though we think and hope he is not. But there rests upon 
his head, and there is marked in his account, the deep and 
indelible sin of blood-guiltiness. 


360 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


PRISONS. (Eprxsurca Review, 1821.) 


. Thoughts on the Criminal Prisons of this Country, occasioned by the 
Bill now in the House of Commons, for Consolidating and Amending 
the Laws relating to Prisons; with some Remarks on the Practice of 
looking to the Task-Master of the Prison rather than to the Chaplain 
for the Reformation of Offenders ; and of purchasing the Work of those 
whom the Law has condemned to Hard Labour as a Punishment, by 
allowing them to spend a Portion of their Earnings during their Im- 
prisonment. By George Holford, Esq. M. P. Rivington. 1821. 


2. Gurney on Prisons. Constable and Co. 1819. 


3. Report of Society for bettering the Condition of Prisons. Bensley. 
1820. 


THERE are, in every county in England, large public schools, 
maintained at the expense of the county, for the encourage- 
ment of profligacy and vice, and for providing a proper suc- 
cession of housebreakers, profligates, and thieves. ‘hey are 
schools, too, conducted without the smallest degree of par- 
tiality or favour; there being no man (however mean his birth, 
or obscure his situation,) who may not easily procure admis- 
sion to them. ‘The moment any young person evinces the 
slightest propensity for these pursuits, he is provided with 
food, clothing, and lodging; and put to his studies under the 
most accomplished thieves and cut-throats the county can 
supply. There is not, to be sure, a formal arrangement of 
lectures, after the manner of our universities; but the petty 
larcenous stripling, being left destitute of every species of em- 
ployment, and locked up with accomplished villains as idle as 
himself, listens to their pleasant narrative of successful crimes, 
and pants for the hour of freedom, that he may begin the same 
bold and interesting career. 

This is a perfectly true picture of the prison establishments 
of many counties in England, and was so, till very lately, of 
almost all; and the effects so completely answered the design, 
that, in the year 1818, there were committed to the jails of the 


STATE OF PRISONS. 361 


United Kingdom more than one hundred and seven thousand 
persons !* a number supposed to be greater than that of all the 
commitments in the other kingdoms of Europe put together. 

‘The bodily treatment of prisoners has been greatly improved 
since the time of Howard. ‘here is still, however, much to 
do; and the attention of good and humane people has been 
Jately called to their state of moral discipline. 

It is inconceivable to what a spirit of party this has given 
birth; —all the fat and sleek people, — the enjoyers,— the 
mumpsimus, and ‘ well as we are’ people, are perfectly out- 
rageous at being compelled to do their duty; and to sacrifice 
time and money to the lower orders of mankind. Their first 
resource was, to deny all the facts which were brought forward 
for the purposes of amendment; and the alderman’s sarcasm 
of the Turkey carpet in jails was bandied from one hard-hearted 
and fat-witted gentleman to another: but the advocates of pri- 
son-improvement are men in earnest—not playing at religion, 
but of deep feeling, and of indefatigable industry in charitable 
pursuits. Mr. Buxton went in company with men of the 
most irreproachable veracity ; and found, in the heart of the 
metropolis, and in a prison of which the very ‘Turkey carpet 
alderman was an Official visitor, scenes of horror, filth, and 
cruelty, which would have disgraced even the interior of a 
slave-ship. 

This dislike of innovation proceeds sometimes from the dis- 
gust excited by false humanity, canting hypocrisy, and silly 
enthusiasm. It proceeds also from a stupid and indiscriminate 
horror of change, whether of evil for good, or good for evil. 
There is also much party spirit in these matters. A good 
deal of these humane projects and institutions originates from 
Dissenters. ‘The plunderers of the public, the jobbers, and 
those who sell themselves to some great man, who sells him- 
self to a greater, all scent from afar, the danger of political 
change—are sensible that the correction of one abuse may 
lead to that of another—feel uneasy at any visible operation 
of public spirit and justice—hate and tremble at a man who 
exposes and rectifies abuses from a sense of duty—and think, 
if such things are suffered to be, that their candle-ends and 
cheese-parings are no longer safe: and these sagacious per- 
sons, it must be said for them, are not very wrong in this feel- 


* Report of Prison Society, xiv. 
VOL. I.—24 


a) 


362 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


ing. Providence, which has denied to them all that is great 
and good, has given them a fine tact for the preservation of 
their plunder: their real enemy is the spirit of inquiry—the 
dislike of wrong—the love of right—and the courage and dili- 
gence which are the concomitants of these virtues. When 
once this spirit is up, it may be as well directed to one abuse 
as another. ‘T’o say you must not torture a prisoner with bad 
air and bad food, and to say you must not tax me without my 
consent, or that of my representative, are both emanations of 
the same principle, occurring to the same sort of understand- 
ing, congenial to the same disposition, published, protected, 
and enforced by the same qualities. ‘This it is that really 
excites the horror against Mrs. Fry, Mr. Gurney, Mr. Bennet, 
and Mr. Buxton. Alarmists such as we have described have 
no particular wish that prisons should be dirty, jailers cruel, 
or prisoners wretched; they care little about such matters 
either way ; but all their malice and meanness are called up into 
action when they see secrets brought to light, and abuses giv- 
ing way before the diffusion of intelligence, and the aroused 
feelings of justice and compassion. As for us, we have 
neither love of change, nor fear of it; but a love of what is 
just and wise, as far as we are able to find it out. In this 
spirit we shall offer a few observations upon prisons, and upon 
the publications before us. 

‘The new law should keep up the distinction between jails 
and houses of correction. One of each should exist in every 
country, either at a distance from each other, or in sucha state 
of juxtaposition that they might be under the same governor. 
To the jail should be committed all persons accused of capital 
offences, whose trials would come on at the Assizes; to the 
house of correction, all offenders whose cases would be cogni- 
zable at the Quarter Sessions. Sentence of imprisonment in the 
house of correction, after trial, should carry with it hard labour ; 
sentence of imprisonment in the jail, after trial, should imply 
an exemption from compulsory labour. ‘There should be no 
compulsory labour in jails—only in houses of correction. In 
using the terms Jail and House of Correction, we shall always 
attend to these distinctions. Prisoners for trial should not 
only not be compelled to labour, but they should have every 
indulgence shown to them compatible with safety. No chains 
—much better diet than they commonly have—all possible 
access to their friends and relations—and means of earning 


STATE OF PRISONS. 363 


money if they choose it. ‘The broad and obvious distinction 
between prisoners before and after trial should constantly be 
attended to; to violate it is gross tyranny and cruelty. 

The jails for men and women should be so far separated, 
that nothing could be seen or heard from one to the other. 
The men should be divided into two classes: lsf, those who 
are not yet tried; 2d, those who are tried and convicted. The 
first class should be divided into those who are accused as 
misdemeanants and as felons; and each ‘of these into first 
misdemeanants and second misdemeanants, men of better and 
worse character; and the same with felons. ‘The second class 
should be divided into, 1s¢, persons condemned to death; 2dly, 
persons condemned for transportation; 3d/y, first class of con- 
fined, or men of the best character under sentence of confine- 
ment; 4thly, second confined, or men of worse character 
under sentence of confinement. ‘To these are to be added 
separate places for king’s evidence, boys, lunatics, and places 
for the first reception of prisoners, before they can be exa- 
mined and classed :—a chapel, hospital, yards, and workshops 
for such as are willing to work. 

The classifications in jails will then be as follows :— 


Men before Trial. Men after Trial. 
lst Misdemeanants. Sentenced to death. 
2d Ditto. Ditto transportation. 
lsf Felons. lst Confined. 
2d Ditto. 2d Confined. 


Other Divisions in a Jail. 


King’s Evidence. 

Criminal Lunatics. 

Boys. 

Prisoners on their first reception. 
And the same divisions for Women. 


But there is a division still more important than any of these; 
and that is, a division into much smaller numbers than are 
gathered together in prisons:—40, 50, and even 70 and 80 
felons, are often placed together in one yard, and live together 
for months previous to their trial. Any classification of of- 
fences, while there is such a multitude living together of 
one class,is perfectly nugatory and ridiculous; no character 
can escape from corruption and extreme vice in such a school. 


364 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


The law ought to be peremptory against the confinement of 
more than fifteen persons together of the same class. Unless 
some measure of this kind is resorted to, all reformation in 
prisons is impossible.* 

A very great, and avery neglected object in prisons, is diet. 
There should be, in every jail and house of correction, four 
sorts of diet;—I1st, Bread and water; 2dly, Common prison 
diet, to be settled by the magistrates ; 3dly, Best prison diet, 
to be settled by ditto; 4¢hly, Free diet, from which spirituous 
liquors altogether, and fermented liquors in excess, are ex- 
cluded. All prisoners, before trial, should be allowed best 
prison diet, and be upon free diet if they could afford it. Every 
sentence for imprisonment should expressly mention to which 
diet the prisoner is confined; and no other diet should be, on 
any account, allowed to such prisoner after his sentence. 
Nothing can be so preposterous, and criminally careless, as 
the way in which persons confined upon sentence are suffered 
1o live in prison. Misdemeanants, who have money in their 
pockets, may be seen in many of our prisons with fish, buttered 
veal, rump steaks, and every other kind of luxury ; and as the 
practice prevails of allowing them to purchase a pint of ale 
each, the rich prisoner purchases many pints of ale in the name 
of his poorer brethren, and drinks them himself. A jail should 
be a place of punishment, from which men recoil with horror 
—a place of real suffering, painful to the memory, terrible to 
the imagination; but if men can live idly, and live luxuriously, 
in aclean, well-aired, well-warmed, spacious habitation, is it 
any wonder that they set the law at defiance, and brave that 
magistrate who restores them to their former luxury and ease? 
There are a set of men well known to jailers, called Family- 
men, who are constantly returning to jail, and who may be 
said to spend the greater part of their life there,—up to the 
time when they are hanged. 


Minutes of Evidence taken before Select Committee on Gaols. 


‘Mr. Wiriram Buxpy, Keeper of the New Clerkenwell Prison.-- 
Have you many prisoners that return to you on re-commitment? A 
vast number; some of them are frequently discharged in the morning, 
and I have them back again in the evening; or they have been dis- 
charged in the evening, and I have had them back in the morning.” — 
Evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1819, p.278. 


* We should much prefer solitary imprisonment; but are at present 
speaking of the regulations in jails where that system is excluded. 


STATE OF PRISONS. ; 365 


‘Francis Const, Esq., Chairman of the Middlesex Quarter-sessions. 
~—-Has that opinion been confirmed by any conduct you have observed 
in prisoners that have come before you for trial? I only judge from ~ 
the opposite thing, that, going into a place where they can be idle, and 
well protected from any inconveniences of the weather, and other 
things that poverty is open to, they are not amended at all; they laugh 
at it frequently, and desire to go to the house of rorrection. Once or 
twice, in the early part of the winter, upon sending a prisoner for two 
months, he has asked whether he could not stay longer, or words to 
that effect. Itis an insulting way of saying they like it’—-Euzdence 
before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1819, p. 285. 


The fact is, that a thief is a very dainty gentleman. Male 
parta cito dilabuntur. He does not rob to lead a life of mor- 
tification and self-denial. ‘The difficulty of controlling, his 
appetites, in all probability, first led him to expenses, which 
made him a thief to support them. Having lost character, and 
become desperate, he orders crab and lobster and veal cutlets 
at a public house, while a poor labourer is refreshing himself 
with bread and cheese. The most vulnerable part of a thief 
is his belly; and there is nothing he feels more bitterly in con- 
finement than a long course of water-gruel and flour-puddings. 
It is a mere mockery of punishment to say, that such a man 
shall spend his money in luxurious viands, and sit down to 
dinner with fetters on his feet, and fried pork in his stomach. 

Restriction to diet in prisons is still more necessary, when 
it is remembered that it is impossible to avoid making a prison, 
in some respects, more eligible than the home of a culprit. It 
is almost always more spacious, cleaner, better ventilated, bet- 
ter warmed. All these advantages are inevitable on the side 
of the prison. ‘The means, therefore, that remain of making 
a prison a disagreeable place, are not to be neglected; and 
of these, none are more powerful than the regulation of diet. 
If this is neglected, the meaning of sentencing a man to prison 
will be this—and it had better be put in these words— 

‘Prisoner at the bar, you are fairly convicted, by a jury. of 
your country, of having feloniously stolen two pigs, the pro- 
perty of Stephen Muck, farmer. The court having taken into 
consideration the frequency and enormity of this offence, and 
the necessity of restraining it with the utmost severity of pun- 
ishment, do order and adjudge that you be confined for six 
months in a house larger, better, better aired, and warmer than 
your own, in company with 20 or 30 young persons in as good 
health and spirits as yourself. You need do no work, and 


366 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


you may have any thing for breakfast, dinner, and supper, you 
can buy. In passing this sentence, the court hope that your 
example will be a warning to others; and that evil-disposed 
persons will perceive, from your suffering, that the laws of 
their country are not to be broken with impunity.’ 

As the diet, according to our plan, is always to be a part of 
the sentence, a judge will, of course, consider the nature of 
the offence for which the prisoner is committed, as well as the 
quality of the prisoner: and we have before stated, that all 
prisoners, before trial, should be upon the best prison diet, and 
unrestricted as to what they could purchase, always avoiding 
intemperance. 

These gradations of diet being fixed in all prisons, and these 
definitions of Jail and House of Correction being adhered to, 
the punishment of imprisonment may be apportioned with the 
greatest nicety, either by the statute, or at the discretion of the 
judge, if the law chooses to give him that discretion. There 
will be— | 

Imprisonment for different degrees of time. 
Imprisonment solitary, or in company, or in darkness. 
In jails without labour. 

In houses of correction with labour. 

Imprisonment with diet on bread and water. 
Imprisonment with common prison diet. 
Imprisonment with best prison diet. 

Imprisonment with free diet. 

Every sentence of the judge should state diet, as well as 
light or darkness, time, place, solitude, society, labour or ease; 
and we are strongly of opinion, that the punishment in prisons 
should be sharp and short. We would, in most cases, give as 
much of solitary confinement as would not injure men’s minds, 
and as much of bread and water diet as would not injure their 
bodies. A return to prison should be contemplated with hor- 
ror—horror, not excited by the ancient filth, disease, and 
extortion of jails; but by calm, well-regulated, well-watched 
austerity—by the gloom and sadness wisely and intentionally 
thrown over such an abode. Six weeks of such sort of im- 
prisonment would be much more efficacious than as many 
months of jolly company and veal cutlets. 

It appears, by the Times newspaper of the 24th of June, 
1821, that two persons, a man and his wife, were committed 
at the Surrey Sessions for three years. If this county jail is 


STATE OF PRISONS. 367 


bad, to three years of idleness and good living—if it is a 
manufacturing jail, to three years of regular labour, moderate 
living, and accumulated gains. ‘They are committed princi- 
pally for a warning to others, partly for their own good. 
Would not these ends have been much more effectually 
answered, if they had been committed, for nine months, to 
solitary cells upon bread and water; the first and last month 
in dark cells? If this is too severe, then lessen the duration 
still more, and give them more light days, and fewer dark 
ones; but we are convinced the whole good sought may be 
better obtained in much shorter periods than are now re- 
sorted to. 

For the purpose of making jails disagreeable, the prisoners 
should remain perfectly alone all night, if it is not thought 
proper to render their confinement entirely solitary during the 
whole period of their imprisonment. Prisoners dislike this— 
and therefore it should be done; it would make their resi- 
dence in jails more disagreeable, and render them unwilling 
to return there. At present, eight or ten women sleep in a 
room with a good fire, pass the night in sound sleep or plea- 
sant conversation; and this is called confinement in a prison. 
A prison 1s a place where men, after trial and sentence, should 
be made unhappy by public lawful enactments, not so severe 
as to injure the soundness of mind or body. If this is not 
done, prisons are a mere invitation to the lower classes to 
wade, through felony and lareeny, to better accommodations 
than they can procure at home. And here, as it appears to 
us, is the mistake of the many excellent men who busy them- 
selves (and wisely and humanely busy themselves) about pri- 
sons. ‘heir first object seems to be the reformation of the pri- 
soners, not the reformation of the public; whereas the first ob- 
ject should be, the discomfort and discontent of their prisoners ; 
that they should become a warning, feel unhappy, and resolve 
never to act so again as to put themselves in the same predica- 
ment; and then as much reformation as is compatible with this 
the better. Ifa man says to himself, this prison is a comfortable 
place, while he says to the chaplain or the visitor that he will 
come there no more, we confess we have no great confidence in 
his public declaration; but if he says, ‘this is a place of misery 
and sorrow, you shall not catch me here again,’ there is much 
reason to believe he will be as good as his word ; and he then 
becomes (which is of much more consequence than his own 


368 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


reformation) a warning to others. Hence it is we object to 
that spectacle of order and decorum—carpenters in one shop, 
tailors in another, weavers in a third, sitting down to a meal 
by ring of bell, and receiving a regular portion of their earn- 
ings. We are afraid it is better than real life on the other 
side of the wall, or so very little worse that nobody will have 
any fear to encounter it. In Bury jail, which is considered 
as a pattern jail, the prisoners under a sentence of confinement 
are allowed to spend their weekly earnings (two, three, and 
four shillings per week) in fish, tobacco, and vegetables; so 
states the jailer in his examination before the House of Com- ° 
mons—and we have no doubt it is well meant; but is it 
punishment? We were most struck, in reading the evidence 
of the jail committee before the House of Commons, with the 
opinions of the jailer of the Devizes jail, and with the practice 
of the magistrates who superintend it.* 


‘Mr. T. Brurron, Governor of the Gaol at Devizes.—Does this con- 
finement in solitude make prisoners more averse to return to prison? 
‘TI think it does—Does it make a strong impression upon them? I 
have no doubt of it—Does it make them more obedient and orderly 
while in gaol? I have no doubt it does—Do you consider it the 
most effectual punishment you can make use of? Ido.—Do you 
think it has a greater effect upon the minds of prisoners than any 
apprehensions of personal punishment? I have no doubt of it— 
Have you any dark cells for the punishment of refractory prisoners? 
I have.—Do you find it necessary occasionally to use them? Very 
seldom.—Have you, in any instance, been obliged to use the dark 
cell, in the case of the same prisoner, twice? Only on one occasion, 
I think.— What length of time is it necessary to confine a refractory 
prisoner to bring him to his senses? Less than one day.—Do you 
think it essential, for the purpose of keeping up the discipline of the 
prison, that you should have it in your power to have recourse to the 
punishment of dark cells? I do; I consider punishment in a dark 
cell for one day, has a greater effect upon a prisoner than to keep 
him on bread and water for a month.’—Lvidence before the Committee 
of the House.of Commons in 1819, p. 359. 


The evidence of the governor of Gloucester jail is to the 
same effect. 


‘Mr. Tuomas Cunntnenam, Keeper af Gloucester Gaol—Do you 
attribute the want of those certificates entirely to the neglect of en- 
forcing the means of solitary confinement? I do most certainly. 


* The Winchester and. Devizes jails seem to us to be conducted 
upon better principles than any other, though even these are by no 
means what jails should be. 


STATE OF PRISONS. 369: 


Sometimes, where a certificate has not been granted, and a prisoner 
has brought a certificate of good behaviour for one year, Sir George 
and the committee ordered one pound or a guinea from the charity.— 
Does that arise from your apprehension that the prisoners have not 
been equally reformed, or only from the want of the means of ascer- 
taining such reformation? It is for want of not knowing; and we 
cannot ascertain it, from their working in numbers. —They may be 
reformed? Yes, but we have not jhe means of ascertaining it. 
There is one thing I do which is not provided by the rules, and which 
is the only thing in which I deviate from the rules. When a man is 
committed for a month, I never give him any work; he sits in soli- 
tude, and walks in the yard by himself for air; he has no other food 
but his bread and water, except twice a week a pint of peas soup. I 
never knew an instance of a man coming in a second time, who had 
been committed for a month. I have done that for these seventeen 
or eighteen years.— What has been the result? They dread so much 
coming in again. Ifa man is committed for six weeks, we give him 
work. Do you apprehend that solitary confinement for a month, 
without employment, is the most beneficial means of working reform? 
I-conceive it is—Can it operate as the means of reform, any more 
than it operates as a system of punishment? It is only for small 
offences they commit for a month.— Would not the same effect be 
produced by corporal punishment? Corporal punishment may be 
absolutely necessary sometimes; but I do not think corporal punish- 
ment would reform them so much as solitary confinement.— Would 
not severe corporal punishment have the same effect? No, it would 
harden them more than any thing else-—Do you think benefit is de- 
rived from the opportunity of reflection afforded by solitary confine- 
ment? Yes.—And very low diet also! Yes.”—FEvidence before the 
Committee of the House of Commons in 1819, p. 391. 


We must quote also the evidence of the governor of Hors- 
ley jail. 


‘Mr. Witrram Stoxes, Governor of the House of Correction at Hors- 
ley.—Do you observe any difference in the conduct of prisoners who 
are employed, and those who have no employment? Yes, a good 
deal; I look upon it, from what judgment I can form, and I have been 
a long while in it, that to take a prisoner and discipline him accord- 
ing to the rules as the law allows, and if he have no work, that that 
man goes through more punishment in one month, than a man who 
is employed and receives a portion of his labour three months ; but 
still I should like to have employment, because a great number of 
times I took men away, who have been in the habit of earning six- 
pence a week to buy a loaf, and put them in solitary confinement; 
and the punishment is a great deal more without work.— Which of the 
prisoners, those that have been employed, or those unemployed, do 
you think would go out of the prison the better men? I think, that 
let me have a prisoner, and I never treat any one with severity, any 
further than that they should be obedient, and to let them see that I 
will do my duty, I have reason to helieve, that, if a prisoner is com- 


| 


370 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


mitted under my care, or any other man’s care, to a house of correc- 
tion, and he has to go under the discipline of the law, if he is in for. 
the value of a month or six weeks, that man is in a great deal better 
state than though he stays for six months; he gets hardened by being 
in so long, from one month to another.—You are speaking now of 
solitude without labour; do you think he would go out better, if he 
had been employed during the month you speak of? No, nor half; 
because I never task those people, in order that they should not say 
I force them to do more than they are able, that they should not slight 
it; for if they perform any thing in the bounds of reason, I never find 
fault with them. The prisoner who is employed, his time passes 
smooth and comfortable, and he has a proportion of his earnings, and 
he can buy additional diet; but if he has no labour, and kept under 
the discipline of the prison, it is a tight piece of punishment to go 
through.— Which of the two should you think most likely to return 
immediately to habits of labour on their own account? ‘The disposi- 
tions of all men are not alike; but my opinion is this, if they are 
kept and disciplined according to the rules of the prison, and have 
no labour, that one month will do more than six; I am certain, that 
a man who is kept there without labour once, will not be very ready 
to come there again.’—Evidence before the Committee of the House of 
Commons, pp. 398, 399. 


Mr. Gurney and Mr. Buxton both lay a great stress upon 
the quiet and content of prisoners, upon their subordination 
and the absence of all plans of escape; but, where the happi- 
ness of prisoners is so much consulted, we should be much 
more apprehensive of a conspiracy to break into, than to break 
out of, prison. The mob outside may, indeed, envy the wick- 
ed ones within; but the felon who has left, perhaps, a scolding 
wife, a battered cottage, and six starving children, has no dis- 
position to escape from regularity, sufficient food, employment 
which saves him money, warmth, ventilation, cleanliness, and 
civil treatment. ‘These symptoms, upon which these respect- 
able and excellent men lay so much stress, are by no means 
proofs to us that prisons are placed upon the best possible 
footing. 

The governor of Bury jail, as well as Mr. Gurney, insist 
much upon the few prisoners who return to the jail a second 
time, the manufacturing skill which they acquire there, and 
the complete reformation of manners, for which the prisoner 
has afterwards thanked him the governor. But this is not the 
real criterion of the excellence of a jail, nor the principal rea- 
son why jails were instituted. The great point is, not the 
average recurrence of the same prisoners; but the paucity or 
frequency of commitments, upon the whole. You may make 


STATE OF PRISONS. 371 


a jail such an admirable place of education, that it may cease 
to be infamous to go there. Mr. Holford tells us (and a very 
curious anecdote it is), that parents actually accuse their chil- 
dren falsely of crimes, in order to get them into the Philan- 
thropic Charity! and that it is consequently a rule with the 
governors of that Charity never to receive a child upon the 
accusation of the parents alone. But it is quite obvious what 
the next step will be, if the parents cannot get their children 
in by fibbing. ‘They will take good care that the child is 
really qualified for the Philanthropic, by impelling him to those 
crimes which are the passport to so good an education. 


‘If, on the contrary, the offender is to be punished simply by being 
placed in a prison, where he is to be well lodged, well clothed, and 
well fed, to be instructed in reading and writing, to receive a moral 
and religious education, and to be brought up to a trade; and if this 
prison is to be within the reach of the parents, so that they may occa- 
sionally visit their child, and have the satisfaction of knowing, from 
time to time, that all these advantages are conferred upon him, and 
that he is exposed to no hardships, although the confinement and the 
discipline of the prison may be irksome to the boy; yet the parents 
may be apt to congratulate themselves on having got him off their 
hands into so good a berth, and may be considered by other parents 
as having drawn a prize in the lottery of human life by their son’s 
conviction. This reasoning is not theoretical, but is founded in some 
degree upon experience. ‘I‘hose who have been in the habit of attend- 
ing the committee of the Philanthropic Society know, that parents 
have often accused their children of crimes falsely, or have exagge- 
rated their real offences, for the sake of inducing that society to take 
them; and so frequent has been this practice, that it is a rule with 
those who manage that institution, never to receive an object upon the 
representation of its parents, unless supported by other strong testi- 
mony. —Holford, pp. 44, 45. 


It is quite obvious that, if men were to appear again, six 
months after they were hanged, handsomer, richer, and more 
plump than before execution, the gallows would cease to be 
an object of terror. But here are men who come out of jail, 
and say, ‘* Look at us,—we can read and write, we can make 
baskets and shoes, and we went in ignorant of every thing: 
and we have learnt to do without strong liquors, and have no 
longer any objection to work; and we did work in the jail, and 
have saved money, and here it is.” What is there of terror 
and detriment in all this? and how are crimes to be lessened if 
they are thus rewarded? Of schools there cannot be too many. 
Penitentiaries, in the hands of wise men, may be rendered ex- 


372 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


cellent institutions; but a prison must be a prison—a place of 
sorrow and wailing; which should be entered with horror, and 
quitted with earnest resolution never to return to such misery ; 
with that deep impression, in short, of the evil which breaks 
out into perpetual warning and exhortation to others. ‘This 
great point effected, all other reformation must do the greatest 
good. 

There are some very sensible observations upon this point 
in Mr. Holford’s book, who upon the whole has, we think, 
best treated the subject of prisons, and best understands them. 


‘In former times, men were deterred from pursuing the road that 
Jed to a prison, by the apprehension of encountering there disease and 
hunger, of being loaded with heavy irons, and of remaining without 
clothes to cover “them, or a bed to lie on; we have done no more than 
what justice required in relieving the inmates of a prison from these 
hardships; but there is no reason that they should be freed from the 
fear of all other sufferings and privations. AndI hope that those 
whose duty it is to take up the consideration of these subjects, will see, 
that in Penitentiaries, offenders should be subjected to separate con- 
finement, accompanied by such work as may be found consistent with 
that system of imprisonment; that in jails or houses of correction, 
they should perform that kind of labour which the law has enjoined; 
and that, in prisons of both descriptions, instead of being allowed to 
cater for themselves, they should be sustained by such food as the rules 
and regulations of the establishment should have provided for them; 
in short, that prisons should be considered as places of punishment, 
and not as scenes of cheerful industry, where a compromise must be 
made with the prisoner’s appetite to make him do the common work 
of a journeyman or manufaciurer, and the labours of the spinning- 
wheel and the loom must be alleviated by indulgence.’* 


* «That I am guilty of no exaggeration in thus describing a prison 
conducted upon the principles now coming into fashion, will be evi- 
dent to any person who will turn to the latter part of the article, “ Pe- 
nitentiary, Millbank,’ in Mr. Buxton’s Book on Prisons. He there 
states what passed in conversation between himself and the governor 
of Bury jail, (which jail, by the bye, he praises as one of the three best 
priscns he has ever seen, and strongly recommends to our imitation 
at Millbank). Having observed, that the governor of Bury jail had 
mentioned his having counted 34 spinning-wheels in full activity when 
he left that jail at 5 o’clock in the morning on the preceding day, Mr. 
Buxton proceeds as follows :—*“ After he had seen the Millbank Peni- 
tentiary, I asked him what would be the consequence, if the regula- 
tions there used were adopted by him?” “The consequence would 
be,” he replied, “that every wheel would be stopped.” Mr. Buxton 
then adds, “I would not be considered as supposing that the prisoners 
will altogether refuse to work at Millbank—they will work during the 


STATE OF PRISONS. 373 


This is good sound sense; and it is a pity that it is preceded 
by the usual nonsense about ‘the tide of blasphemy and se- 
dition.’ If Mr. Holford is an observer of tides and currents, 
whence comes it that he observes only those which set one 
way? Whence comes it that he says nothing of the tides of 
canting and hypocrisy, which are flowing with such rapidity? 
—of abject political baseness and sycophancy—of the dispo- 
sition so prevalent among Englishmen, to sell their conscience 
and their country to the Marquis of Londonderry for a living 
for the second son—or a silk gown for the nephew—or fora 
frigate for my brother the captain? How comes our loyal 
carcerist to forget all these sorts of tides? 

There is a great confusion, as the law now stands, in the 
government of jails. ‘The justices are empowered, by several 
statutes, to make subordinate regulations for the government 
of the jails; and the sheriff supersedes those regulations. 
Their respective jurisdictions and powers should be clearly 
arranged. . 

The female prisoners should be under the care of a matron, 
with proper assistants. Where this is not the case, the female 
part of the prison is often a mere brothel for the turnkeys. 
Can any thing be so repugnant to all ideas of reformation, as 


stated hours; but the present incentive being wanting, the labour will, 
I apprehend, be languid and desultory.” Ishall not, on my part, un- 
dertake to say that they will do as much work as will be done in those 
prisons in which work is the primary object; but, besides the encou- 
ragement of the portion of earnings laid up for them, they know that 
diligence is among the qualities that will recommend them to the mercy 
of the crown, and that the want of it is, by the rules and regulations 
of the prison, an offence to be punished. The governor of Bury jail, 
who is a very intelligent man, must have spoken hastily, in his eager- 
ness to support his own system, and did not, I conceive, give himself 
credit for as much power and authority in his prison as he really pos- 
sesses. It is not to be wondered at, that the keepers of prisons should 
like the new system: there is less trouble in the care of a manufactory 
than in that of a jail; but I am surprised to find that so much reliance 
is placed in argument on the declaration of some of these officers, that 
the prisoners are quieter where their work is encouraged, by allowing 
them to spend a portion of their earnings. It may naturally be ex- 
pected, that offenders will be least discontented, and consequently least 
turbulent, where their punishment is lightest, or where, to use Mr. 
Buxton’s own words, “ by making labour productive of comfort or con- 
venience, you do much towards rendering it agreeable;” but I must 
be permitted to doubt, whether these are the prisons of which men 
will live in most dread.’—Aolford, pp. 78—80. 


374 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


a male turnkey visiting a solitary female prisoner? Surely, 
women can take care of women as effectually as men can take 
care of men; or, at least, women can do so properly, assisted 
by men. ‘This want of a matron is a very scandalous and 
immoral neglect in any prison system. 

The presence of female visitors, and instructors for the 
women, is so obviously advantageous and proper, that the 
offer of forming such an institution must be gladly and thank- 
fully received by any body of magistrates. ‘That they should 
feel any jealousy of such interference, is too absurd a suppo- 
sition to be made or agreed upon. Such interference may not 
effect all that zealous people suppose it will effect; but, if it 
does any good, it had better be. 

Irons should never be put upon prisoners before trial; after 
trial, we cannot object to the humiliation and disgrace which 
irons and a particoloured prison dress occasion. Let them be 
a part of solitary confinement, and let the words ‘ Solitary 
Confinement,’ in the sentence, imply permission to use them. 
The judge then knows what he inflicts. 

We object to the office of prison inspector, for reasons so 
very obvious, that it is scarcely necessary to enumerate them, 
The prison inspector would, of course, have a good salary ; 
that, in England, is never omitted. It is equally matter of 
course that he would be taken from among treasury retainers ; 
and that he never would look ata prison. Every sort of at- 
tention should be paid to the religious instruction of these 
unhappy people; but the poor chaplain should be paid a little 
better ;—-every possible duty is expected from him—and he 
has one hundred per annum. 

Whatever money is given to prisoners, should be lodged 
with the governor for their benefit, to be applied as the visiting 
magistrates point out—no other donations should be allowed 
or accepted. 

If voluntary work before trial, or compulsory work after 
trial, is the system of a prison, there should be a task-master ; 
and it should be remembered, that the principal object is not 
profit. 

Wardsmen, selected in each yard among the best of the 
prisoners, are very serviceable. If prisoners work, they 
should work in silence. At all times, the restrictions upon 
seeing friends should be very severe; and no food should be 
sent from friends. 


STATE OF PRISONS. 375 


Our general system then is—that a prison should be a place 
of real punishment; but of known, enacted, measurable, and 
measured punishment. <A prisoner (not for assault, or refusing 
to pay parish dues, but a bad felonious prisoner), should pass 
a part of his three months in complete darkness; the rest in 
complete solitude, perhaps in complete idleness, (for solitary 
idleness leads to repentance, idleness in company to vice). 
He should be exempted from cold, be kept perfectly clean, 
have sufficient food to prevent hunger or illness, wear the 
prison dress and moderate irons, have no communication with 
any body but the officers of the prison and the magistrates, 
and remain otherwise in the most perfect solitude. We 
strongly suspect this is the way in which a bad man is to be 
made afraid of prisons; nor do we think that he would be less 
inclined to receive moral and religious instruction, than any 
one of seven or eight carpenters in jail, working at a common 
bench, receiving a part of their earnings, and allowed to pur- 
chase with them the delicacies of the season. If this system 
is not resorted to, the next best system is severe work, ordinary 
diet, no indulgences, and as much seclusion and solitude as 
are compatible with work ;—always remarking, that perfect 
sanity of mind and body are to be preserved. 

To this system of severity in jails there is but one objec- 
tion. ‘The present duration of punishments was calculated for 
prisons conducted upon very different principles ;—and if the 
discipline of prisons was rendered more strict, we are not sure 
that the duration of imprisonment would be practically short- 
ened; and the punishments would then be quite atrocious and 
disproportioned. ‘There is a very great disposition, both in 
judges and magistrates, to increase the duration of imprison- 
ment; and, if that is done, it will be dreadful cruelty to in- 
crease the bitterness as well as the time. We should think, 
for instance, six months’ solitary imprisonment to be a punish- 
ment of dreadful severity; but we find, from the House of 
Commons’ report, that prisoners are sometimes committed by 
county magistrates for two years* of solitary confinement. 
And so it may be doubted, whether it is not better to wrap up 
the rod in flannel, and make it a plaything, as it really now is, 
than to show how it may be wielded with effectual severity. 
For the pupil, instead of giving one or two stripes, will whip 


* House of Commons’ Report, 355. 


376 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


his patient to death. But if this abuse were guarded against, 
the real way to improve would be,‘now we have made prisons 
healthy and airy, to make them odious and austere—engines 
of punishment, and objects of terror. 

In this age of charity and of prison improvement, there is 
one aid to prisoners which appears to be wholly overlooked; 
and that is, the means of regulating their defence, and provid- 
ing them witnesses for their trial. A man is tried for murder, 
or for house-breaking or robbery, without a single shilling in 
his pocket. ‘The nonsensical and capricious institutions of 
the English law prevent him from engaging counsel to speak 
in his defence, if he had the wealth of Croesus; but he has no 
money to employ even an attorney, or to procure a single 
witness, or to take out a subpoena. ‘The judge, we are told, is 
his counsel ;—this is sufficiently absurd; but it is not pretend- 
ed that the judge is his witness. He solemnly declares that 
he has three or four witnesses who could give a completely 
different colour to the transaction; but they are sixty or seventy 
miles distant, working for their daily dread, and have no 
money for such a journey, nor for the expense of a residence 
of some days in an assize town. ‘They do not know even 
the time of the assize, nor the modes of tendering their evi- 
dence if they could come. When every thing is so well 
marshalled against him on the opposite side, it would be sin- 
gular if an innocent man, with such an absence of all means of 
defending himself, should not occasionally be hanged or trans- 
ported: and accordingly we believe that such things have 
happened.* Let any man, immediately previous to the assizes, 


* From the Clonmell Advertiser it appears, that John Brien, alias 
Captain Wheeler, was found guilty of murder at the late assizes for 
the county of Waterford. Previous to his execution he made the fol- 
lowing confession :— 

‘Inow again most solemnly aver, in the presence of that God by 
whom I will soon be judged, and who sees the secrets of my heart, 
that only three, viz. Morgan Brien, Patrick Brien, and my unfortunate 
self, committed the horrible crimes of murder and burning at Bally- 
garron, and that the four unfortunate men who have before suffered 
for them, were not in the smallest degree accessary to them. I have 
been the cause for which they have innocently suffered death. I have 
contracted a death of justice with them—and the only and least resti- 
tution I can make them, is thus publicly, solemnly, and with death 
before my eyes, to acquit their memory of any guilt in the crimes for 
which I shall deservedly suffer! !!’—Philanthropist, No. 6. 208. 


Pereunt et imputantur. 


STATE OF PRISONS. 37h 


visit the prisoners for trial, and see the many wretches who 
are to answer to the most serious accusations, without one 
penny to defend themselves. If it appeared probable, upon 
inquiry, that these poor creatures had important evidence 
which they could not bring into court for want of money, 
would it not be a wise application of compassionate funds, to 
give them this fair chance of establishing their innocence? It 
seems to us'no bad finale of the pious labours of those who 
guard the poor from ill treatment during their imprisonment, to 
take care that they are not unjustly hanged at the expiration 
of the term. 


VOL. L—25 


378 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


PRISONS. (Epinsunen Revirw, 1822.) 


1. The Third Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improve- 
ment of Prison Discipline, and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offend- 
ers. London, 1821. 


2. Remarks upon Prison Discipline, §c. &c., in a Letter addressed to the 
Lord-Lieutenant and Magistrates of the County of Essex. By C.C. 
Western, Esq. M.P. London, 1821. 


THERE never was a society calculated, upon the whole, to 
do more good than the Society for the Improvement of Prison 
Discipline; and, hitherto, it has been conducted with equal 
energy and prudence. If now, or hereafter, therefore, we 
make any criticisms on their proceedings, these must not be 
ascribed to any deficiency of good will or respect. We may 
differ from the society in the means—our ends, we are proud 
to say, are the same. 

In the improvement of prisons, they consider the small 
number of recommitments as the great test of amelioration. 
Upon this subject we have ventured to differ from them in a 
late number; and we see no reason to alter our opinion. It 
is a mistake, and a very serious and fundamental mistake, to 
suppose that the principal object in jails is the reformation of 
the offender. ‘The principal object undoubtedly is, to pre- 
vent the repetition of the offence by the punishment of the 
offender; and, therefore, it is quite possible to conceive that 
the offender himself may be so kindly, gently, and agreeably 
led to reformation, by the efforts of good and amiable persons, 
that the effect of the punishment may be destroyed, at the 
same time that the punished may be improved. A prison 
may lose its terror and discredit, though the prisoner may 
return from it a better scholar, a better artificer, and a better 
man. ‘The real and only test, in short, of a good prison system 
is, the diminution of offences by the terror of the punishment. 
If it can be shown that, in proportion as attention and expense 
have been employed upon the improvement of prisons, the 


PRISONS. 379 


number of commitments has ‘been diminished,—this indeed 
would be a convincing proof that such care and attention were 
well employed. But the very reverse is the case ; the number 
of commitments within these last ten years having nearly 
doubled all over England. 

The following are stated to be the committals in Norfolk 
county gaol. From 1796 to 1815, the number averaged 
about 80. 


In 1816 itwas 134 


1817 - 142 
1818 - 159 
1819 - 161 
1820 - 223.—Heport, p. 57. 


In Staffordshire, the commitments have gradually increased 
from 195 in 1815, to 443 in 1820—though the jail has been 
built since Howard’s time, at an expense of 30,000/.— 
(Report, p. 67.) In Wiltshire, in a prison which has cost 
the county 40,000/., the commitments have increased from 
207 in 1817, to 504 in 1821. Within this period, to the. 
eternal scandal and disgrace of our laws, 378 persons have 
been committed for Game offences—constituting a sixth part 
of all the persons committed;—so much for what our old 
friend, Mr. Justice Best, would term the unspeakable advan- 
tages of country gentlemen residing upon their own property ! 

When the Committee was appointed in the county of 
Essex, in the year 1818, to take into consideration the state 
of the jail and houses of correction, they found that the 
number of prisoners annually committed had increased, within 
the ten preceding years, from 559 to 1993; and there is little 
doubt (adds Mr. Western) of this proportion being a tolerable 
specimen of the whole kingdom. We are far from attributing 
this increase solely to the imperfection of prison discipline. 
Increase of population, new statutes, the extension of the 
breed of pheasants, landed and mercantile distress, are very 
operative causes. But the increase of commitments is a 
stronger proof against the present state of prison discipline, 
than the decrease of recommitments is in its favour. We 
may possibly have made some progress in the art of teaching 
him who has done wrong, to do so no more; but there is no 
proof that we have learnt the more important art, of deterring 
those from doing wrong who are doubting whether they shall 


380 =. WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


do it or not, and who, of course, will be principally guided in 
their decision by the sufferings of those who have previously 
yielded to temptation. 

There are some assertions in the Report of the Society, to 
which we can hardly give credit,—not that we have the 
slightest suspicion of any intentional misrepresentation, but 
that we believe there must be some unintentional error. 

‘The Ladies’ Committees visiting Newgate and the Borough 
Compter, have continued to devote themselves to the improvement 
of the female prisoners, in a spirit worthy of their enlightened zeal 
and Christian charity. The beneficial effects of their exertions have 
been evinced by the progressive decrease in the number of female 


prisoners recommitted, which has diminished, since the visits of the 
ladies to Newgate, no less than 40 per cent.’ 


That is, that Mrs. Fry and her friends have reclaimed forty 
women out of every hundred, who, but for them, would have 
reappeared in jails. Nobody admires and respects Mrs. Fry 
more than we do; but this fact is scarcely credible; and, if 
accurate, ought, in justice to the reputation of the Society and 
its real interests, to have been thoroughly substantiated by 
names and documents. ‘The ladies certainly lay claim to no 
such extraordinary success in their own Report quoted in the 
Appendix ; but speak with becoming modesty and moderation 
of the result of their labours. ‘The enemies of all these 
reforms accuse the reformers of enthusiasm and exaggeration. 
It is of the greatest possible consequence, therefore, that their 
statements should be correct, and their views practical; and 
that all strong assertions should be supported by strong docu- 
ments. ‘The English are a calm, reflecting people; they will 
give time and money when they are convinced ; but they love 
dates, names, and certificates. In the midst of the most 
heart-rending narratives, Bull requires the day of the month, 
the year of our Lord, the name of the parish, and the coun- 
tersign of three or four respectable householders. After these 
affecting circumstances, he can no longer hold out; but gives 
way to the kindness of his nature—puffs, blubbers, and sub- 
scribes ! 

A case is stated in the Hertford house of correction, which 
so much more resembles the sudden conversions of the Metho- 
dist Magazine, than the slow and uncertain process by which 
repentance is produced in real life, that we are a little surprised 
the society should have inserted it. 


PRISONS. 381 


‘Two notorious poachers, as well as bad men, were committed for 
three months, for not paying the penalty after conviction, but who, in 
consequence of extreme contrition and good conduct, were, at the in- 
tercession of the clergyman of their parish, released before the expi- 
ration of their term of punishment. Upon leaving the house of cor- 
rection, they declared that they had been completely brought to their 
senses—spoke with gratitude of the benefit they had derived from the 
advice of the chaplain, and promised, upon their return to their parish, 
that they would go to their minister, express their thanks for his inter- 
ceding for them; and moreover that they would, for the future, attend 
their duty regularly at church. It is pleasing to add, that these pro- 
mises have been faithfully fulfilled’—App. to Third Report, pp. 29, 30. 


Such statements prove nothing, but that the clergyman who 
makes them is an amiable man, and probably a college tutor. 
Their introduction, however, in the Report of a society de- 
pending upon public opinion for success, is very detrimental. 

It is not fair to state the recommitments of one prison, and 
compare them with those of another, perhaps very differently 
circumstanced,—the recommitments, for instance, of a county 
jail, where offences are generally of serious magnitude, with 
those of a borough, where the most trifling faults are punished. 
The important thing would be, to give a table of recommit- 
ments, in the same prison, for a series of years,—the average 
of recommitments, for example, every five years in each prison 
for twenty years past. If the society can obtain this, it will 
be a document of some importance, (though of less perhaps 
than they would consider it to be). At present they tell us, 
that the average of recommitments in certain prisons is 3 per 
cent.: in certain other prisons 5 per cent.: but what where 
they twenty years ago in the same prison?—what were they 
five years ago? Ifrecommitments are to be the test, we must 
know whether these are becoming, in any given prison, more 
or less frequent, before we can determine whether that prison 
is better or worse governed than formerly. Recommitments 
will of course be more numerous where prisoners are received 
from large towns, and from the resorts of soldiers and sailors ; 
because it is in these situations that we may expect the most 
hardened offenders. The different nature of the two soils 
which grow the crimes, must be considered before the produce 
gathered into prisons can be justly compared. 

The quadruple column of the state of prisons for each year, 
is a very useful and important document; and we hope, in 
time, the society will give us a general and particular table of 


382 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


commitments and recommitments carried back for twenty or 
thirty years; so that the table may contain (of Glouceser jail, 
for instance), lst, the greatest number it can contain; 2dly, 
the greatest number it did contain at any one period in each 
year; 3dly, its classification; 4thly, the greatest number com- 
mitted in any given year; 5thly, four averages of five years 
each, taken from the twenty years preceding, and stating the 
greatest number of commitments; 6thly, the greatest number 
of recommitments in the year under view; and four averages 
of recommitments, made in the same manner as the average 
of the commitments; and then totals at the bottom of the co- 
lumns. ‘Tables so constructed would throw great light upon 
the nature and efficacy of imprisonment. 

We wish the society would pay a little more attention to 
the question of solitary imprisonment, both in darkness and in 
light; and to the extent to which it may be carried. Mr. 
Western has upon this subject some ingenious ideas. 


‘It appears to me, that, if relieved from these impediments, and 
likewise from any idea of the necessity of making the labour of pri- 
soners profitable, the detail of corrective prison discipline would not 
be difficult for any body to chalk out. I would first premise, that the 
only punishment for refractory conduct, or any misbehaviour in the 
gaol, should, in my opinion, be solitary confinement; and that, instead 
of being in a dark hole, it should be in some part of the house where 
they could fully see the light of day; and I am not sure that it might 
not be desirable in some cases, if possible, that they should see the 
surrounding country and moving objects at a distance, and every 
thing that man delights in, removed at the same time from any inter- 
course or word or look with any human being, and quite out of the 
reach of being themselves seen. I consider such confinement would 
be a punishment very severe, and calculated to produce a far better 
effect than darkness. All the feelings that are good in men would be 
much more likely to be kept alive; the loss of liberty, and all the bles- 
sings of life which honesty will insure, more deeply to be felt. There 
would not be so much danger of any delinquent sinking into that state 
of sullen, insensible condition, of incorrigible obstinacy, which some- 
times occurs. If he does under those circumstances, we have aright 
to keep him out of the way of mischief, and let him there remain. 
But I believe such solitary confinement as I have described, with scanty 
fare, would very rarely fail of its effect.’— Western’s Remarks, pp. 59, 
60. 


There is a good deal in this; it is well worth the trial; and 
we hope the society will notice it in their next report. 

Itis very difficult to hitupon degrees ; but we cannot help — 
thinking the society lean too much to a system of indulgence 


PRISONS. 383 


and education in jails. We shall be very glad to see them 
more stern and Spartan in their discipline. ‘They recommend 
work, and even hard work; but they do not insist upon it, 
that the only work done in jails by felons should be hard, dull, 
and uninteresting; they do not protest against the conversion 
of jails into schools and manufactories. Look, for example, 
to ‘ Preston house of correction.’ 


‘Preston house of correction is justly distinguished by the industry 
which prevails. Here an idle hand is rarely to be found. There 
were lately 150 looms in full employ, from each of which the average 
weekly earnings are 5s. About 150 pieces of cotton goods are worked 
off per week. A considerable proportion of the looms are of the pri- 
soners’ own manufacture. In one month, an inexperienced workman 
will be able to earn the cost of his gaol allowance of food. Weaving 
has these advantages over other prison labour: the noise of the shuttle 
prevents conversation, and the progress of the work constantly re- 
quires theeye. The accounts of this prison contained in the Appendix, 
deserve particular attention, as there appears to be a balance of clear 
profit to the county, from the labour of the prisoners, in the year, of 
1398/. Ys. ld. This sum was earned by weaving and cleaning cotton 
only; the prisoners being besides employed in tailoring, whitewashing, 
flagging, slating, painting, carpentering, and labourers’ work, the earn- 
ings of which are not included in the above account.— Third Report, 
pp. 21, 22. 

“At Worcester county gaol, the system of employment is admira- 
ble. Every article of dress worn by the prisoners is made from the 
raw material: sacking and bags are the only articles made for sale.’ 
—Ib. p. 23. 

iT Way prisons, the instruction of the prisoners in reading and 
writing has been attended with excellent effects. Schools have been 
formed at Bedford, Durham, Chelmsford, Winchester, Hereford, 
Maidstone, Leicester house of correction, Shrewsbury, Warwick, 
Worcester, &c. Much valuable assistance has been derived in this 
department from the labours of respectable individuals, especially 
females, acting under the sanction of the magistrates, and direction 
of the chaplain.’—/Jb. pp. 30, 31. 


We again enter our decided protest against these modes of 
occupation in prisons; they are certainly better than mere 
idleness spent in society ; but they are not the kind of occupa- 
tions which render prisons terrible. We would banish all the 
looms of Preston jail, and substitute nothing but the tread- 
wheel, or the capstan, or some species of labour where the 
labourer could not see the results of his toil,—where it was as 
monotonous, irksome, and dull as possible,—pulling and push- 
ing, instead of reading and writing,—no share of the profits— 
not a single shilling. ‘There should be no tea and sugar,—no 


ro 


384 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


assemblage of female felons round the washing-tub,—nothing 
but beating hemp, and pulling oakum, and pounding bricks,— 
no work but what was tedious, unusual, and unfeminine. 
Man, woman, boy and girl, should all leave the jail, unim- 
paired indeed in health, but heartily wearied of their residence ; 
and taught, by sad experience, to consider it as the greatest 
misfortune of their lives to return to it. We have the strong- 
est belief that the present lenity of jails, the education carried 
on there—the cheerful assemblage of workmen—-the indul- 
gence in diet—-the shares of earnings enjoyed by prisoners, 
are one great cause of the astonishingly rapid increase of com- 
mitments. 

Mr. Western, who entirely agrees with us upon these 
points, has the following judicious observations upon the severe 
system :— 


‘It may be imagined by some persons, that the rules here prescribed 
are too severe; but such treatment is, in my opinion, the tenderest 
mercy, compared with that indulgence which is so much in practice, 
and which directly tends to ruin, instead of saving, its unfortunate 
victim. This severity it is which in truth forms the sole effective 
means which imprisonment gives; only one mitigation therefore, if 
such it may be termed, can be admissible, and that is, simply to shor- 
ten the duration of the imprisonment. The sooner the prisoner comes 
out the better, if fully impressed with dread of what he has suffered, 
and communicates information to his friends what they may expect 
if they get there. It appears to me, indeed, that one great and pri- 
mary object we ought to have in view is, generally, to shorten the 
duration of imprisonment, at the same time that we make it such a 
punishment as is likely to deter, correct, and reform; shorten the du- 
ration of imprisonment before trial, which we are called upon, by 
every principle of moral and political justice, to do; shorten also the 
duration of imprisonment after trial, by the means here described; and 
I am satisfied our prisons would soon lose, or rather would never 
see, half the number of their present inhabitants. The long duration 
of imprisonment, where the discipline is less severe, renders it per- 
fectly familiar, and, in consequence, not only destitute of any useful 
influence, but obviously productive of the worst effects; yet this is 
the present practice; and I think, indeed, criminals are now sentenced 
to a longer period of confinement than formerly. 

‘The deprivation of liberty certainly is a punishment under any 
circumstances; but the system generally pursued in our gaols might 
rather be considered as a palliative of that punishment, than to make 
it effectual to any good purpose. An idle life, society unrestrained, 
with associates of similar character and habits, better fare and lodgings 
in many cases, and in few, if any, worse than falls to the lot of the 
hard-working and industrious peasant; and very often much better 


PRISONS. 385 


than the prisoners were in the enjoyment of before they were appre- 
hended. 

‘I do not know what could be devised more agreeable to all the dif- 
ferent classes of offenders than this sort of treatment: the old hardened 
sinner, the juvenile offender, or the idle vagabond, who runs away and 
leaves a sick wife and family to be provided for by his parish, alike 
have little or no apprehension, at present, of any imprisonment to 
which they may be sentenced; and thus are the most effective means 
we possess to correct and reform rendered totally unavailable, and 
even perverted, to the more certain ruin of those who might be re- 
Stored to society good and valuable members of it. 

‘There are, it, is true, various occupations now introduced into 
many prisons, but which, I confess, I think of very little use ; draw- 
ing and preparing straws, platting, knitting, heading pins, &c., weav- 
ing, and working at a trade even, as it is generally carried on— 
prisoners coaxed to the performance of it, the task easy, the reward 
immediate—afford rather the means of passing away the time agree- 
ably. These occupations are indeed better than absolute idleness, 
notwithstanding that imprisonment may be rendered less irksome 
thereby. I am far from denying the advantage, still less would I be 
supposed to derogate from the merits of those who, with every feeling 
of humanity, and with indefatigable pains, in many instances, have 
established such means of employment; andsome of them for women, 
with washing, &c.,amount to hard labour ; but I contend that, for men, 
they are applicable only to a house of industry, and by no means suited 
to the corrective discipline which should be found in a prison. Indi- 
viduals are sent here to be punished, and for that sole purpose; in 
many cases for crimes which have induced the forfeiture of life: they 
are not sent to be educated, or apprenticed to a trade. The horrors 
of dungeon imprisonment, to the credit of the age, no longer exist. 
But, if no cause of dread is substituted, by what indication of common 
sense is it that we send criminals there at all? If prisons are to be 
made into places in which persons of both sexes and all ages may be 
well fed, clothed, lodged, educated, and taught a trade, where they may 
find pleasant society, and are required not to take heed for the mor- 
row, the present inhabitants should be turned out, and the most de- 
serving and industrious of our poorest fellow-subjects should be invited 
to take their place, which I have no doubt they would be eager to do.’ 
— Western, p. 13-17. 


In these sentiments we most cordially agree. They are 
well worth the most serious attention of the society. 

The following is a sketch from Mr. Western's book of 
what a prison life should be. It is impossible to write with 
more good sense, and a more thorough knowledge of the sub- 
ject. 


‘The operations of the day should begin with the greatest punctu- 
ality at a given hour; and, as soon as the prisoners have risen from 
their beds, they should be, according to their several classes, marched 


386 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


to the workhouses, where they should be kept to hard labour two 
hours at least; from thence they should be taken back to wash, shave, 
comb, and clean themselves; thence to the chapel to hear a short 
prayer, or the governor or deputy should read to them in their respec- 
tive day-rooms; and then their breakfast, which may, altogether, 
occupy an hour and a half or more. I have stated, in a former part 
of my letter, that the hours of meals and leisure should be in solitude, 
in the sleeping cells of the prison; but I presume, for the moment, 
this may not always be practicable. I will therefore consider the 
case as if the classes assembled at meal-times in the different day- 
rooms. After breakfast they should return to hard labour for three 
or four hours, and then take another hour for dinner; labour after 
dinner two or three hours, and their supper given them to eat in soli- 
tude in their sleeping cells. 

‘This marching backwards and forwards to chapel and mill-house, 
&c. may appear objectionable, but it has not been so represented to me 
in the prisons where it actually now takes place; and it is, to my ap- 
prehension, materially useful in many respects. The object is to 
keep the prisoners in a State of constant motion, so that there shall 
be no lounging time or loitering, which is always favourable to mis- 
chief or cabal. For the same reason it isI propose two hours’ labour 
the moment they are up, and before washing, &c., that there may be 
no time lost, and that they may begin the day by a portion of labour, 
which will tend to keep them quiet and obedient the remainder of it. 
Each interval for meal, thus occurring between labour hours, has 
also a tendency to render the mischief of intercourse less probable, 
and at the same time the evening association, which is most to be ap- 
prehended in this respect, is entirely cut off. The frequent moving of 
the prisoners from place to place keeps the governor and sub-officers 
of the prison in a similar state of activity and attention, which is like- 
wise of advantage, though their numbers shouldbe such as to prevent 
their duty becoming too arduous orirksome. Their situation is not plea- 
sant, and their responsibility is great. An able and attentive governor, 
who executes all his arduous duties with unremitting zeal and fidelity, 
is a most valuable public servant, and entitled to the greatest respect. 
He must be a man of no ordinary capacity, with a liberal and com- 
prehensive mind, possessing a control over his own passions, firm, 
and undaunted, a character that commands from those under him, 
instinctively, as it were, respect and regard. In vain are our buildings, 
and rules, and regulations, if the choice of a governor is not made an 
object of primary and most solicitous attention and consideration. 

‘It does not appear to me necessary for the prisoners to have more 
than three hours leisure, inclusive of meal-times; and I am convinced 
the close of the day must be in solitude. Eight or ten hours will have 
passed in company with their fellow prisoners of the same class (for 
IT am presuming that a separate compartment of the workhouse will 
be allotted to each) where, though they cannot associate to enjoy so- 
ciety as they would wish, no gloom of solitude can oppress them: 
there is more danger even then of too close an intercourse and con- 
versation, though a ready cure is in that case to be found by a wheel 


PRISONS. 387 


put in motion, the noise of which speedily overcomes the voice. Some 
time after Saturday night should be allowed to them, more particularly 
to cleanse themselves and their clothes, and they should have a bath, 
cold or warm, if necessary; and on the Sunday they should be dressed 
in their best clothes, and the day should be spent wholly in the chapel, 
the cell, and the airing-ground; the latter in presence of a day-watch- 
man, as I have described to be in practice at Warwick. I say nothing 
about teaching to read, write, work, &c. &c.; any proportion of time 
necessary for any useful purpose may be spared from the hours of 
labour or of rest, according to circumstances; but I do not place any 
reliance upon improvement in any branch of education: they would 
not, indeed, be there long enough. All I want them to learn is, that 
there exists the means of punishment for crime, and be fully impress- 
ed with dread of repetition of what they have undergone; and a short 
time will suffice for that purpose. Now, if each successive day was 
Spent in this manner, can it be doubted that the frequent commission 
of crime would be checked, and more done to deter, correct, and re- 
form, than could be accomplished by any other punishment? A period 
of such discipline, longer or shorter, according to the nature of the 
offence, would surely be sufficient for any violation of the law short 
of murder, or that description of outrage which is likely to lead on to 
the perpetration of it. This sort of treatment is not to be overcome: 
it cannot be braved, or laughed at, or disregarded, by any force of ani- 
mal spirits, however strong or vigorous of mind or body the indivi- 
dual may be. The dull, unvarying course of hard labour, with hard 
fare and seclusion, must in time become so painfully irksome, and so 
wear and distress him, that he will inevitably, in the end, be subdued.’ 
— Western, p. 64-69. 


There is nothing in the Report of the Prison Society so 
good as this. 

The society very properly observe upon the badness of 
town jails, and the necessity for their suppression. Most 
towns cannot spare the funds necessary for building a good 
jail. Shopkeepers cannot spare the time for its superintend- 
ence; and henceit happens that town jails are almost always 
in a disgraceful state. ‘The society frequently allude to the 
diffusion of tracts. If education is to be continued in jails, and 
tracts are to be dispersed, we cannot help lamenting that the 
tracts, though full of good principles, are so intolerably stupid 
—and all apparently constructed upon the supposition, that a 
thief or a peccant ploughman are inferior in common sense to a 
boy of five years old. The story generally is, that a labourer 
with six children has nothing to live upon but mouldy bread 
and dirty water; yet nothing can exceed his cheerfulness and 
content—no murmurs—no discontent: of mutton he has 
scarcely heard—of bacon he never dreams: furfurous bread 


388 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


and the water of the pool constitute his food, establish his 
felicity, and excite his warmest gratitude. The squire or parson 
of the parish always happens to be walking by and overhears 
him praying for the king and the members for the county, 
and for all in authority ; and it generally ends with their offer- 
ing him a shilling, which this excellent man declares he does 
not want, and will not accept! ‘These are the pamphlets 
which Goodies and Noodles are dispersing with unwearied 
diligence. It would be a great blessing if some genius would 
arise who had a talent of writing for the poor. He would be 
of more value than many poets living upon the banks of lakes 
—or even (though We think highly of ourselves) of greater 
value than many reviewing men living in the garrets of the 
north. 

The society offer some comments upon the prison bill now 
pending, and which, unfortunately* for the cause of prison im- 
provement, has been so long pending in the legislature. In 
the copy of this bill, as it stands at present, nothing is said of 
the limitation of numbers in any particular class. We have 
seen forty felons of one class in one yard before trial. If this 
is to continue, all prison improvement is a mere mockery. 
Separate sleeping cells should be enacted positively, and not 
in words, which leave this improvement optional. If any visit- 
ing justice dissents from the majority,t it should be lawful 
for him to give in a separate report upon the state of the prison 
and prisoners to the judge or the quarter sessions. All such 
reports of any visiting magistrate or magistrates, not exceeding 
a certain length, should be published in the county papers. 
The chairman’s report to the secretary of state should be 
published in the same manner. ‘The great panacea is pub- 
licity ; itis this which secures compliance with wise and just 
laws, more than all the penalties they contain for their own 
preservation. 

We object to the reading and writing clause. A poor man, 
who is lucky enough to have his son committed for a felony, 
educates him, under such a system, for nothing; while the 
virtuous simpleton on the other side of the wall is paying by 


* The county of York, with a prison under presentment, has been 
waiting nearly three years for this bill, in order to proceed upon the 
improvement of their county jail. 

¢ It would be an entertaining change in human affairs to determine 
every thing by minorities. They are almost always in the right. 


4 


PRISONS. 389 


the quarter for these attainments. He sees clergymen and 
Jadies busy with the larcenous pupil; while the poor lad, who 
respects the eighth commandment, is consigned, in some dark 
alley, to the frowns and blows of a ragged pedagogue. It 
would be the safest way, where a prisoner is kept upon bread 
and water alone, to enact that the allowance of bread should 
not be less than a pound and a half for men, and a pound for 
women and boys. We strongly recommend, as mentioned in 
a previous number, that four sorts of diet shouldbe enacted for 
every prison: Ist, Bread and water; 2d, Better prison diet; 
3d, Best prison diet; 4th, Free diet—the second and third to | 
be defined by the visiting magistrates. All sentences of im- 
prisonment should state to which of these diets the prisoner is 
to be confined; and all deviation from it on the part of the prison 
officers should be punished with very severe penalties. ‘The 
regulation of prison diet in a prison is a point of the very highest 
importance; and to ask of visiting magistrates that they should 
doom to bread and water a prisoner, whom the law has left at 
liberty to purchase whatever he has the money to procure, is 
a degree of severity which it is hardly fair to expect from 
country gentlemen, and, if expected, those expectations will 
not be fulfilled. ‘The whole system of diet, one of the main- 
springs of all prison discipline, will get out of order, if its 
arrangement is left to the interference of magistrates, and not 
to the sentence of the judge. Free diet and bread diet need no 
interpretation; and the jailer will take care to furnish the judge 
with the definitions of better prison diet and best prison diet. 
A knowledge of the diet prescribed in a jail is absolutely neces- 
sary for the justice of the case. Diet differs so much in dif- 
ferent prisons, that six weeks in one prison is aS severe a. 
punishment as three months in another. If any country gen- 
tleman, engaged in legislation for prisons, is inclined to under- 
value the importance of these regulations, let him appeal to his 
own experience, and remember, in the vacuity of the country, 
how often he thinks of his dinner, and of what there will be for 
dinner; and how much his amenity and courtesy for the even- 
ing depend upon the successful execution of this meal. But 
there is nobody so gluttonous and sensual as a thief; and he 
will feel much more bitterly fetters on his mouth than his 
heels. It sometimes happens that a gentleman is sentenced 
to imprisonment, for manslaughter in a duel, or for a libel. 
Are visiting justices to doom such a prisoner to bread and 


390 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


water, or are fhey to make an invidious distinction between 
him and the other prisoners? The diet should be ordered by 
the judge, or it never will be well ordered—or ordered at all: 

The most extraordinary clause in the bill is the following— 


‘And be it further enacted, that in case any criminal prisoner shall 
be guilty of any repeated offence against the rules of the prison, or 
shall be guilty of any greater offence which the jailer or keeper is not 
by this act empowered to punish, the said jailer or keeper shall report 
the same to the visiting justices, or one of them, for the time being; 
and such justices, or one of them, shall have power to inquire upon 
oath, and determine concerning any such offence so reported to him 
or them, and shall order the offender to be punished, either by mode- 
rate whipping, repeated whippings, or by close confinement, for any 
term not exceeding ’—Act, p. 21. 


Upon this clause, any one justice may order repeated whip- 
pings for any offence greater than that which the jailer may 
punish. Our respect for the committee will only allow us to 
say, that we hope this clause will be reconsidered. We beg 
leave to add, that there should be a return to the principal 
secretary of state of recommitments as well as commitments. 

It is no mean pleasure to see this attention to jail-discipline 
travelling from England to the detestable and despotic govern- 
ments of the continent,—to see the health and life of captives 
admitted to be of any importance,—to perceive that human 
creatures in dungeons are of more consequence than rats and 
black beetles. All this is new—is some little gained upon 
tyranny; and for it we are indebted to the labours of the 
Prison Society. Still the state of prisons, on many parts of 
the continent, is shocking beyond all description. 

It is a most inconceivable piece of cruelty and absurdity in 
the English law, that the prisoner’s counsel, when he is tried 
for any capital felony, is not allowed to speak for him; and 
this we hope the new prison bill will correct. Nothing can 
be more ridiculous in point of reasoning, or more atrociously 
cruel and unjust in point of fact. Any number of counsel may 
be employed to take away the poor man’s life. ‘They are at 
full liberty to talk as long as they like; but not a syllable is to 
be uttered in his defence—not a sentence to show why the 
prisoner is not to be hung. This practice is so utterly ridicu- 
lous to any body but lawyers (to whom nothing that is cus- 
tomary is ridiculous), that men not versant with courts of 
justice will not believe it. It is, indeed, so utterly inconsistent 


PRISONS. 391 


with the common cant of the humanity of the English law, 
that it is often considered to be the mistake of the narrator, 
rather than the imperfection of the system. We must take 
this opportunity, therefore, of making a few observations on 
this very strange and anomalous practice. 

The common argument used in its defence is that the judge 
is counsel for the prisoner. But the defenders of this piece of 
eruel and barbarous nonsense must first make their election, 
whether they consider the prisoner to be, by this arrangement, 
in a better, a worse, or an equally good situation as if his 
counsel were allowed to plead for him. If he isin a worse 
situation, why is he so placed? Why is a man, in a solemn 
issue of life and death, deprived of any fair advantage which 
any suitor in any court of justice possesses? ‘T’his is a plea 
of guilty to the charge we make against the practice; and its 
advocates, by such concession, are put out of court. But, if it 
is an advantage, or no disadvantage, whence comes it that the 
choice of this advantage, in the greatest of all human concerns, 
is not left to the party, or to his friends? If the question con- 
cerns a footpath—or a fat ox—every man may tell his own 
story, or employ a barrister to tell it for him. The law leaves 
the litigant to decide on the method most conducive to his own 
interest. But, when the question is whether he is to live or 
die, itis at once decided for him that his counsel are to be 
dumb! And yet, so ignorant are men of their own interests, 
that there is not a single man tried who would not think ita 
great privilege if counsel were allowed to speak in his favour, 
and who would not be supremely happy to lay aside the 
fancied advantage of their silence. And this is true not merely 
of ignorant men ; but there is not an Old Bailey barrister who 
would not rather employ another Old Bailey barrister to speak 
for him, than enjoy the advantage (as the phrase is) of having 
the judge for his counsel. But in what sense, after all, is the 
judge counsel for the prisoner? He states, in his summing up, 
facts as they have been delivered in evidence; and he tells the 
jury upon what points they are to decide: he mentions what 
facts are in favour of the prisoner, and what bear against him ; 
and he leaves the decision to the jury. Does he do more than 
this in favour of the prisoner? Does he misstate? does he 
mislead? does he bring forward arguments on one side of the 
question, and omit equally important arguments on the other? 
If so, he is indeed counsel for the prisoner; but then who is 


392 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


judge? who takes care of the interests of the public? But 
the truth is, he does no such thing; he does merely what we 
have stated him to do; and would he do less, could he do 
less, if the prisoner’s counsel spoke for him? If an argument 
was just, or an inference legitimate, he would not omit the 
one, or refute the other, because they had been put or drawn 
in the speech of the prisoner’s counsel. He would be no more 
prejudiced against the defendant in a criminal than in a civil 
suit. He would select from the speeches of both counsel all 
that could be fairly urged for or against the defendant, and he 
would reply to their fallacious reasonings. The pure adminis- 
tration of justice requires of him, in either case, the same con- 
duct. Whether the whole bar spoke for the prisoner, or 
whether he was left to defend himself, what can the judge do, 
or what ought he to do, but to state to the jury the facts as 
they are given in evidence, andthe impression these facts 
have made upon his own mind? In the mean time, while the 
prisoner’s counsel have been compelled to be silent, the 
accuser’s, the opposite. party, have enjoyed an immense ad- 
vantage. In considering what bears against the prisoner, 
the judge has heard, not only the suggestions of his own 
understanding, but he has been exposed to the able and artful 
reasoning of a practised advocate, who has been previously 
instructed in the case of which the judge never heard a sylla- 
ble before he came into court. Suppose it to be a case de- 
pending upon circumstantial evidence; in how many new 
points of view may a man of genius have placed those cireum- 
stances, which would not have occurred to the judge himself! 
How many inferences may he have drawn, which would have 
been unnoticed, but for the efforts of a man whose bread and 
fame depend upon his exertions, and who has purposely, and 
on contract, flung the whole force of his understanding into 
one scale! In the mean time, the prisoner can say nothing, 
for he has not the gift of learned speech; his counsel can say 
nothing, though he has communicated with the prisoner, and 
could place the whole circumstances, perhaps, in the fairest 
and clearest point of view for the accused party. By the 
courtesy of England this is called justice—we in the north 
cannot admit of the correctness of the appellation. 

It seems utterly to be forgotten, in estimating this practice, 
that two understandings are better than one. ‘The judge must 
inevitably receive many new views against the prisoner by 


PRISONS. 393 


the speech of one counsel, and lose many views in favour of 
the prisoner by the silence of the other. We are not to sup- 
pose (like ladies going into court in an assize town) that the 
judge would have thought of every thing which the counsel 
against the prisoner has said, and which the counsel for the 
prisoner would have said. ‘The judge, wigged and robed as 
he is, is often very inferior in acuteness to either of the per- 
sons who are pleading under him—a cold, slow, parchment 
and precedent man, without passions or precordia,—perhaps 
a sturdy brawler ‘for church and king,—or a quiet man of 
ordinary abilities, steadily, though perhaps conscientiously, 
following those in power through thick and thin—through 
right and wrong. Whence comes it that the method of get- 
ting at truth, which is so excellent on all common occasions, 
should be considered as so improper on the greatest of all 
occasions, where the life of a man is concerned? If an acre 
of land is to be lost or won, one man says all that can be said 
on one side of the question—another on the other; and the 
jury, aided by the impartiality of the judge, decide. ‘The wit 
of man can devise no better method of disentangling difficulty, 
exposing falsehood, and detecting truth. ‘ Zell me why Iam 
hurried away to a premature death, and no man suffered to 
speak in my defence, when at this very moment, and in my 
hearing, all the eloquence of the bar, on the other side of 
your justice hall, 1s employed in defending a path or a 
hedge? Isa foot of land dearer to any man than my life 
is to me? The civil plaintiff has not trusted the smallest 
part of his fate or fortune to his own efforts; and will you 
grant me no. assistance of superior wisdom, who have suf- 
fered a long famine to purchase it—who am broken by 
prison—broken by chains—and so shamed by this dress of 
guilt, and abashed by the presence of my superiors, that I 
have no words which you could hear without derision—that 
Icould not give way for a moment to the fulness and agita- 
tion of my rude heart without moving your contempt 2’? So 
spoke a wretched creature to a judge in our hearing! and 
what answer could be given, but ‘ Jailer, take him away ?” 
We are well aware that a great decency of language is 
observed by the counsel employed against the prisoner, in 
consequence of the silence imposed upon the opposite coun- 
sel; but then, though there is a decency, as far as concerns 
impassioned declamation, yet there is no restraint, and there 
VOL. I.—26 


394 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


can be no restraint, upon the reasoning powers of a counsel- 
lor. He may put together the circumstances of an imputed 
crime in the most able, artful, and ingenious manner, without 
the slightest vehemence or passion. We have no objection 
to this, if any counter statement were permitted. We want 
only fair play. Speech for both sides, or speech for none. 
The first would be the wiser system; but the second would 
be clear from the intolerable cruelty of the present. We see 
no harm that would ensue, if both advocates were to follow 
their own plan without restraint. But, if the feelings are to 
be excluded in all causes of this nature (which seems very 
absurd), then let the same restraint be exacted from both 
sides. It might very soon be established, as the etiquette of 
the bar, that the pleadings on both sides were expected to be 
calm, and to consist of reasoning upon the facets. In high 
treason, where the partiality of the judge. and power of the 
court are suspected, this absurd incapacity of being heard by 
counsel is removed. Nobody. pretends to say, in such cases, 
that the judge would be counsel for the prisoner; and yet, 
how many thousand cases are there in a free country which 
have nothing to do with high treason, and where the spirit of 
party, unknown. to himself, may get possession of a judge? 
Suppose any trial for murder to have taken place in the Man- 
chester riots,-—will any man say that the conduct of many 
judges on such a question ought not to have been watched with 
the most jealous circumspection? Would any prisoner— 
would any fair mediator between the prisoner and the publie 
——be satisfied at such a period with the axiom that the judge 
is counsel for the prisoner? We are not saying that there is 
no judge who might not be so trusted, but that all judges are 
not, at all times, to be so intrusted. We are not saying that 
any judge would wilfully do wrong; but that many might be 
Jed to do wrong by passions and prejudices of which they 
were unconscious ; and that the real safeguard to the prisoner, 
the best, the only safeguard, is fully liberty of epee for the 
counsel he has employed. 

What would be the discipline of that hospital, where medi- 
cal assistance was allowed in all trifling complaints, and 
withheld in every case of real danger? where Bailey and 
Halford were lavished upon stomach-aches and refused in 
typhus fever? where the dying patient beheld the greatest 
skill employed upon trifling evils of others, and was told, 


PRISONS. 395 


because his was a case of life and death, that the cook or the 
nurse was to be his physician ? 

Suppose so intolerable an abuse (as the Attorney and Soli- 
citor General would term it) had been established, and that a 
Jaw for its correction was now first proposed, entitled an Act 
to prevent the Counsel for Prisoners from being heard in 
their Defence!!! 

What evil would result from allowing counsel to be heard 
in defence of prisoners? Would too many people be hung 
from losing that valuable counsellor, the judge? or would too 
few people be hung? or would things remain much as they 
are at present? We never could get the admirers of this 
practice to inform us what the results would be of deviating 
from it; and we are the more particularly curious upon this 
point, because our practice is decidedly the reverse, and we 
find no other results from it than a fair administration of 
criminal justice. In all criminal cases that require the inter- 
vention of a jury in Scotland, a prisoner must have, Ist, a 
copy of the indictment, which must contain a minute specifi- 
cation of the offence charged; 2dly, a list of witnesses ; 3dly, 
a list of the assize; and, 4thly, in every question that occurs, 
and in all addresses to the jury, the prisoner’s counsel has the 
last word. Where is the boasted mercy of the English law 
after this? 

The truth is, it proceeds from the error which, in all dark 
ages, pervades all codes of laws, of confounding the accused 
with the guilty. In the early part of our state trials, the pri- 
soners were not allowed to bring evidence against the wit- 
nesses of the crown. For a long period after this, the wit- 
nesses of the prisoner were not suffered to be examined upon 
oath. One piece of cruelty and folly has given way after 
another. Each has been defended by the Attorney and Soli- 
citor General for the time, as absolutely necessary to the 
existence of the state, and the most perfect performance of 
our illustrious ancestors. ‘The last grand hope of every fool- 
ish person is the silence of the prisoner’s counsel. In the 
defence of this, it will be seen what stupidity driven to despair 
can achieve. We beg pardon for this digression; but flesh 
and blood cannot endure the nonsense of lawyers upon this 
subject. 

The Society have some very proper remarks upon the reli- 
gious instructions of the chaplain—an appointment of vast 


396 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


importance and utility ; unfortunately very ill paid, and devolv- 
ing entirely upon the lower clergy. It is said that the pre- 
sent Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Ryder, goes into jails, and 
busies himself witli the temporal wretchedness and the eternal 
welfare of the prisoners. If this is so, it does him great honour, 
and is a noble example to all ranks of clergy who are subject 
to him. Above all, do not let us omit the following beautiful 
anecdote, while we are talking of good and pious men. 

‘The Committee cannot refrain from extracting from the Report of 
the Paris Society, the interesting anecdote of the excellent Pére Jous- 
sony, who being sent, by the Consul at Algiers, to minister to the 
slaves, fixed his residence in their prison; and, during a period of 
thirty years, never quitted his post. Being compelled to repair to 
France, for a short period, he returned again to the prison, and at 
Jength resigned his breath in the midst of those for whose interests 
he had laboured, and who were dearer to him than life.—Report, p. 
30. 

It seems to be a very necessary part of the prison system, 
that any poor person, when acquitted, should be passed to 
his parish ; and that all who are acquitted should be ime- 
diately liberated. At present, a prisoner, after acquittal, is 
not liberated till the grand jury are dismissed,* in case (as it 
is said) any more bills should be preferred againsthim. ‘This 
is really a considerable hardship; and we do not see, upon 
the same principle, why the prisoner may not be detained for 
another assize. ‘T’o justify such a practice, notice should, at all 
events, be given to the jailer of intention to prefer other charges 
against him. ‘To detain a man who is acquitted of all of which 
he has been accused, and who is accused of nothing more, 
merely because he may be accused of something more, seems 
to be a great perversion of justice. ‘The greatest of all prison 
improvements, however, would be, the delivery of jails four 
times in the year. It would save expense; render justice 
more terrible, by rendering it more prompt; facilitate classifi- 
cation, by lessening numbers; keep constantly alive, in the 
minds of wicked men, the dread of the law; and diminish the 
unjust sufferings of those who, after long imprisonment, are 
found innoceni. 

‘From documents,’ says Mr. Western, ‘ upon the table of the House 


of Commons in 1819, I drew out an account, which I have already 
adverted to in part, but which I shall restate here, as it places, in a 


* This has since been done away wtth. 


PRISONS. 397 


strong point of view, the extent of injustice, and inconsistency too, 
arising out of the present system. It appeared, that at the Maidstone 
Lent Assizes of that year there were one hundred and seventy-seven 
prisoners for trial; of these, seventeen were in prison before the Ist 
of October, eighty-three before the 1st of January, the shortest period 
of confinement before trial being six months of the former, three 
months of the latter. Nothing can show us more plainly the injustice 
of such confinement, than the known fact of six months’ imprison- 
ment being considered a sufficient punishment for half the felonies 
that are committed; but the case is stronger, when we consider the 
number acquitted; seventeen of the twenty-seven first mentioned 
were acquitted, nine of the seventeen were discharged, not being pro- 
secuted, or having no bill found against them. On the other side it 
appeared, that twenty-five convicted felons were sentenced to six 
months’ imprisonment, or under, the longest period of whose confine- 
ment did not, therefore, exceed the shortest of the seventeen acquitted, 
or that of the nine, against whom no charge was adduced; there 
were three, who, after being about seven months in prison, were then 
discharged, whilst various convicted felons suffered six-sevenths only 
of the punishment, including the time before trial as well as after 
condemnation. By the returns from the Lent Assizes at Chelmsford, 
the same year, the cases were not less striking than those of Maid- 
stone: the total numberwas one hundred and sixty-six; of these, 
twenty-five were in prison before the lst of October, of whom eleven 
were acquitted, and of these eleven, six were discharged without any 
indictment preferred; two were in prison eight months; three, seven 
months and fifteen days; three, six months and fifteen days., On the 
other hand, sixteen convicted of felony, were considered to be suffi- 
ciently punished by imprisonment under six months. Upon the 
whole, it appeared that four hundred and five persons had been in 
gaol before the Ist of October, whilst eight hundred convicted felons 
were sentenced to a lighter punishment, to a shorter duration of im- 
prisonment, than these four hundred and five had actually undergone. 

‘It is a curious fact, that, upon an average, more than one-third of 
the total number committed for trial are acquitted. Inthe seven years 
ending 1819, seventy-two thousand two hundred and sixteen persons 
were committed; of these, fourteen thousand two hundred and ninety- 
one were acquitted on trial, eleven thousand two hundred and seventy- 
four were discharged, there being no prosecutions, or no bills found 
against them. ‘This large proportion of acquittals aggravates the evil 
and injustice of long confinement before trial; but were it otherwise, 
what possible right can we have to detain a man in custody six 
months, upon any charge exhibited against him, before he is brought 
to trial?) What excuse or palliation can be found for so barbarous 
a violation of all the principles of justice and humanity ? How con- 
temptible it is, by way of defence, to talk of the inexpediency of 
increasing the number of the judges, the expense, inconvenience, 
trouble, &c.! It is wrong to contend with such arguments against 
the unanswerable claims of justice, as it is only to admit they are 


398 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


entitled to weight. The fact is, we are so completely under the in- 
fluence of habitual respect for established practice, that we do not 
stop to question the possibility of the existence of any serious defects 
in the administration of the law that can be capable of remedy. The 
public attention has never been earnestly and steadily fixed and de- 
voted to the attainment of a better system.’— Western, pp. 80—83. 


The public cannot be too grateful to Mr. Western for his 
labours on this subject. We strongly recommend his Tract 
for general circulation. It is full of stout good sense, without 
one particle of nonsense or fanaticism ;—good English stuff, 
of the most improved and best sort. Lord Londonderry has 
assented to the measure; and his assent does him and the 
government very great credit. It is a measure of first-rate 
importance. The multiplicity of imprisonments is truly 
awful. 

Within the distance of ten miles round London, thirty-one 
fairs are annually held, which continue eighty days within the 
space of seven months. ‘The effect of these fairs, in filling the 
prisons of the metropolis, it is easy to imagine; and the topic 
is very wisely and properly brought forward by the Society. 

Nothing can be so absurd as the reasoning used about flash 
houses. ‘They are suffered to exist, it seems, because it is 
easy to the officers of justice to find, in such places, the pri- 
soners of whom they are in search! But the very place 
where the thief is found is most probably the place which made 
him a thief. - If it facilitates the search, it creates the necessity 
for searching, and multiplies guilt while it promotes detection. 
Wherever thieves are known to haunt, that place should be 
instantly purged of thieves. 

We have pushed this article to a length which will prevent 
us from dwelling upon that part of the plan of the Prison Society 
which embraces the reformation of juvenile delinquents, of 
whom it is calculated, there are not less than 8000 in London 
who gain their livelihood by thieving. ‘To this subject we may 
perhaps refer in some future number. We must content our- 
selves at present with a glimpse at the youthful criminals of 
the metropolis. 


‘Upon a late occasion (in company with Mr. Samuel Hoare, the 
chairman of the Society for the Reform of Juvenile Delinquents), I 
visited, about midnight, many of those receptacles of thieves which 
abound in this metropolis. We selected the night of that day in which 


PRISONS. 399 


an execution had taken place; and our object was, to ascertain whe- 
ther that terrible demonstration of rigour could operate even a short 
suspension of iniquity, and keep for a single night the votaries of 
crime from their accustomed orgies. In one room, I recollect, we 
found a large number of children of both sexes, the oldest under eigh- 
teen years of age, and in the centre of these a man who had been 
described to me by the police as one of the largest sellers of forged 
bank-notes. At another part, we were shown a number of buildings, 
into which only children were allowed to enter, and in which, if you 
could obtain admission, which you cannot, you would see scenes of 
the most flagrant, the most public, and the most shocking debauchery. 
Have I not, then, a right to say, that you are growing crimes ata 
terrible rate, and producing those miscreants who are to disturb the 
public peace, plunder the public property, and to become the scourge 
and the disgrace of the country ?’—Buzton, pp. 66, 67. 


Houses dedicated to the debauchery of children, where it is 
impossible to enter!!! Whence comes this impossibility ? 

To show that their labours are not needlessly continued, 
the Society make the following statement of the present state 
_of prisons :— 

‘But although these considerations are highly encouraging, there 
is yet much to accomplish in this work of national improvement. So 
extensive are the defects of classification, that in thirty gaols, con- 
structed for the confinement of 2985 persons, there were, at one time 
in the last year, no fewer than 5837 prisoners ; and the whole number 
imprisoned in those gaols, during that period, amounted to 26,703. 
There are yet prisons where idleness and its attendant evils reign 
unrestrained—where the sexes are not separated—where all distinc- 
tions of crime are confounded—where few can enter, if uncorrupted, 
without pollution; and, if guilty, without incurring deeper stains of 
criminality.x—There are yet prisons which receive not the pious visits 
of a Christian minister—which the light of knowledge never enters— 
and where the truths and consolations of the Gospel are never heard. 
—There are yet prisons where, for the security of the prisoners, 
measures are resorted to as revolting to British feeling as they are 
repugnant to the spirit and letter of English law. —Report, pp. 63, 64. 


With this statement we take our leave of the subject of 
prisons, thoroughly convinced that, since the days of their 
cleanliness and salubrity, they have been so managed as to 
become the great school for crimes and wretchedness; and 
that the public, though beginning to awake, are not yet suffi- 
ciently aware of this fact, and sufficiently alarmed at it. Mrs. 
Fry is an amiable excellent woman, and ten thousand times 
better than the infamous neglect that preceded her; but hers 
is not the method to stop crimes. In prisons which are really 


400 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 


meant to keep the multitude in order, and to be a terror to evil 
doers, there must be no sharing of profits—no visiting of friends 
—no education but religious education—no freedom of diet— 
no weavers’ looms or carpenters’ benches. ‘There must be a 
great deal of solitude; coarse food; a dress of shame; hard, 
incessant, irksome, eternal labour; a planned and regulated 
and unrelenting exclusion of happiness and comfort. 


END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 


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